Taken
by ShadowKissedDhampir
Summary: Two girls walked in virgins. One left a virgin, the other didn't leave at all. Now three years later, Rose finally gets to return home. **Disclaimer to Richelle Mead, I own plot.**
1. Chapter 1

Due to the immense number of mistakes, and typos I found when rereading my story, I decided to take down the chapters and repost them, fixed and hopefully clean of errors. I did, however, change a few things around. Nothing major though. -SKD


	2. Chapter 2

Lissa thinks that it was her fault. That if she wouldn't have gone off with that Christian boy than none of this would have happened. She blames herself.

She was the one that convinced me to tag along. If we had gone to any other bar, I would like to say that this would have never happened, but I knew that that wasn't true. He still would have found me.

Being back in this life is strange. It has been so long since I have been here, in my own home. It's bizarre and normal at the same time. I'm used to it and not used to it. It's relaxing and frightening.

If wasn't her fault. If anything, if not completely his, then it was mine.

What had we even been doing there? Two eighteen year olds. With fake ids. Thinking it was a good idea to get into a bar and get drunk.

A good idea. What was not a good idea was trusting him. How could I have been so naïve to fall for it? And how could he have been so evil?

Lissa barely even talks to me now because of him. She thinks that after what he did, I was broken. But I was broken. I lost things that I will never get back. My virginity. My innocence. My life. My friends. My family. All because of him.

The nightmares are the worst. I never sleep. I'm always waking up, mere hours after falling asleep, by nightmares that leave me screaming for help that never comes. Except when it does come, I realize that it was only a dream. But then I remember why I had that dream in the first place.

If I could erase my memories of him, I would. The sight of his face in my mind makes me want to puke. The feel of his hands on my body still sting, as if he was really here in front of me.

And I hate it.

I hate him.

She is my only redemption. The only good thing right now, besides Lissa. She understands. She is my hero, my savior. I thank God for every day that I get to spend with her. Without her, I'd be lost in a sea of emotion and I would never find my way back. She is my life raft, my buoy holding me up while he was the anchor dragging me down.

Never again. I promise myself. Never again will I allow myself to be taken.


	3. Chapter 3

_Past_

Lissa and I walk past the long line in front of the club and flash our fake IDs at the bouncer. He gives us a suspicious look, but lets us in anyways. Being the owner's daughter does have some advantages after all. The strobe lights flash and illuminate people's faces every once in a while. It was packed. We made our way to the bar and shouted to get the bartender's attention. Eddie Castile walks over and shakes his head at me.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," he chastises. "I know for a fact that you are not 21."

"Oh, come on, Eddie," I say. "Just a couple drinks."

"I could get fired for this," he mutters.

"I'll make sure Daddy doesn't fire you. I'll tell him it was my fault. That I pressured you."

Grumbling, he makes the drinks. I lean over the bar and kiss his cheek. He flushes and I smile. Lissa and I make our way to a table just off the dance floor. A few seconds later, a waitress appears, holding two shot glasses. She sets them on the table and Lissa and I share a look.

"Uh, we didn't order these," I say.

"From the guys over there," she answers, pointing a table behind us. She flounces away and I turn around to look behind us. At the table immediately behind us, three guys sat. The one with green eyes was staring at me.

"Rose!" Lissa hissed. She nodded her head towards the far end where a guy with ice blue eyes sat, huddled in close with the other guy at the table. "Let's go over!"

"Lissa," I start and she turns her large green eyes on me and I consent. "Fine, but only for a few minutes. I don't trust the one with green eyes.

"Thank you for the drinks," I say. Whispering to Lissa, I add, "Let's go now."

"Stay," pleads the one with green eyes. And I want to stay all of the sudden. I take a seat at the table, across from the brown haired guy between the green eyed and blue eyed guy.

"I'm Adrian Ivashkov," the green eyed guy tells me cockily.

"Rose Hathaway," I answer. I nod towards Lissa. "That's Lissa Dragomir.

Adrian nudges the guy next to him and he mutters, "Dimitri Belikov."

"Christian Ozera," the blue eyed guy says last. Lissa sits across from him and they start talking.

Adrian orders round after round of drinks and I kept drinking. Dimitri shoots Adrian and look and nudges him.

"Stop it," he says. "You've both had enough."

Adrian gives Dimitri a sharp look that Dimitri returns. Ignoring Dimitri, Adrian calls for another round. I don't know how many more drinks I was able to down before I passed out.

When I woke up, I was in a tiny room with no windows. My feet and wrists were bound to the wooden posts of the bed, all of my clothes gone. Adrian enters with a smug satisfied smile on his face. Reality hit me. He had kidnapped me. Adrian's grin got wider as realization must have dawned on my face.

"Rosie," he cooed. I recoiled away from his touch. "Don't be like that, whore!"

Adrian climbed on top of me, grinding his bare lower half against mine. I whimper and struggled to get away.

"Shhh," Adrian said harshly. "It will only hurt the entire time."

I screamed and begged for help for Adrian to stop as he shoved himself inside me.

Adrian groaned in pleasure as I tried to get away from him. He was thrusting in and out of me, not giving a damn on how much it hurt.

I never screamed so loud. I begged and begged for help. But it never came. Only Adrian. He wouldn't stop; he kept going and going, even after he had ejaculated.

Finally, he pulled himself off me. I was sobbing. Pain radiated from down there and his pleased smile made me cry harder.

"See you tomorrow, Rosie." He tells me, stoking my cheek. "Don't cry. It will only get worse for you."

And it did. It got worse each night. Adrian came in and keep going inside me and making me hurt.

And nobody ever helped me. I could hear the others in the house during the day. I knew they were there as he raped me every night. Not a single person helped.


	4. Chapter 4

_Present day_

"Rose."

I jolted awake and sat up. He was across the room from me, knowing better than to come closer. My hands clutched at the sheets and blankets around me, trying to cover myself, despite having long sleeves and sweats on.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Dimitri said softly. His voice was warm so unlike Adrian's.

"What... How did you get in here?" I choked out.

"Lissa let me in," he said, as if it was that simple.

"Lissa?" I was confused. She blamed and hated Christian because she thought he knew about the plan but let Dimitri into the apartment?

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something before closing it.

"Did you know?" I forced out, nearly choking on the words.

He looked away from me, refusing to meet my gaze.

"Did. You. Know?" I demanded, on the verge of tears.

"I suspected," he admitting, still not meeting my gaze.

"And you did nothing?" My voice raised an octave on the word nothing.

"What was I supposed to do, Roza?" His gaze, burning with self-hatred, now pierced me. It was obvious that he has been beating himself up over this for a long time. But that only fueled my anger.

"You could have taken Adr–him in a fight!" I yelled. "You're stronger and taller. You could've saved me from all of this."

I swept my arm around the room, gesturing to the toys that littered the floor. Dimitri looked around hopelessly.

"Roza, I didn't know for sure until that day," he pleaded.

"I don't believe you," I whispered, hugging the blankets tighter to my body.

"Please, Roza," he begged. "I really didn't know."

"I heard others in the house, Dim-Dimitri," I forced his name out of my mouth. "Somebody had to have heard my screams."

"He was very careful." He made sure not to speak Adrian's name. "He made sure that nobody was home when he…"

Dimitri trailed off, not being able to finish his sentence.

"When I found you, I wanted to kill him. Castrate him so that he could never feel that kind of pleasure again." His fists were clenched so tightly I though was going to break something. "I was furious."

He took a step towards me, before quickly jumping back at the horrified expression in my face.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he looked down ashamed. Part of me wanted to comfort him, the other part of me wanted to throttle him.

"Three years!" I screamed, my fury and anger coming back. "For three years I was trapped there with that psychopath. Chained to the wall, the bed, the floor!" The anger started to fade as I slouched against the headboard. "For three years, my hope was gone."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you sooner. That I wasn't able to save you that night," he said, his head falling into his hands. "I failed because I wasn't able to save you from this!"

His body was shaking, his gestures jerky. "Me, Roza. Me. I should've saved you that night. I should've been the one protecting you!"

As I looked at him, my anger further diminished. As I sat staring at him, pity overwhelmed me. I yearned to comfort him. It was a struggle to stay still and not wrap him in my arms. That admission shocked me. I knew I was nowhere close to being ready to be near the male gender, not even Dimitri, who rescued me from _his_ clutches.

"Before I go," Dimitri said, pausing at the foot of my bed. I automatically curled myself into a ball to protect myself. His eyes were devastated when he looked at me. "Adrian's," he paused, choking on his name. "His trial is tomorrow and they want you there to testify. The prosecution does."

My heart stopped. I was going to see him again? I was going to have to be in the same room as Adrian again? Fear encompassed my body.

"Anything else?" I forced out, calming my breaths.

"They request that you bring Katerina with you," he said. Looking away, he added, "As proof."

Not only did I have to be in the same room as my captor, my daughter had to be there too.


	5. Chapter 5

_Past_

I gasped as I jolted awake. Adrian was nowhere to be seen. I tugged uselessly on the chains that bound me to the bed. Sometime while I was asleep, he switched out the chain that bounded me. These new ones were made of harder metal, the links bigger than before.

I could hear people talking in the levels above me. I screamed as loud as I could. Or tried to. Unrealized by me, Adrian had duct taped my mouth. I rattled the chains, trying to make as much noise as possible. Soon, the exertion of moving the chains got to me, my body weak from months of malnutrition, and I let darkness claim me once more.

That night, or so assumed, I was jerked awake by something hitting me.

"The whore wakes," Adrian's cold voice penetrated my skull, making me freeze. I didn't want to open my eyes and have to look into his bright green ones or see the cold smirk that he always wore.

"Open your eyes, little Rosie," he demands, as a flash of pain crossed my wrist. "I said: OPEN THEM!"

When I did, I saw him standing beside the bed, my arm in Adrian's grip, red blood streaming to the floor. Laughing, he dropped the razor and climbed on top of me.

He was completely naked, as was I. Adrian grinned his sadistic grin down at me as he positioned yourself.

"Please!" I begged, tears streaming out of my eyes. "Please. No! No! Please stop!"

My screams got louder and louder as he continued to thrust himself inside of me.

_Present_

"Rose!" A voice called. "Rose, wake up."

My eyes flew open and I looked up into green eyes so similar to his that I nearly screamed. Then I saw the blonde hair that belonged to Lissa.

"It was just another nightmare," Lissa whispered. "He's behind bars. You're never going to have to see him again."

"I will tomorrow. His trial. I have to testify," I choked on the words. Her green eyes went wide. "Why did-"

A soft cry cut me off. I pulled myself out of the bed and walked across the hall.

"Shhhh..." I soothed Katerina as I lifted her into my arms. At two years old, she weighted next to nothing and was still tiny, a result of me not having the proper vitamins and food needed during the pregnancy.

She had hazel eyes and brown/red hair. Her skin was lighter than mine, darker than Adrian's. Her cries ceased as I carried her back to my room.

"She looks so much like you," Lissa whispered. I nodded and looked down at her. It was still hard to get used to the fact that I was twenty-one and had a nearly two year old daughter. I had always sworn that I wouldn't get pregnant until at least twenty five, not at eighteen.

"Why did you let Dimitri in?" I asked as I put Katerina on the bed, surrounded with pillows.

"He wanted to talk, Rose," Lissa said, rubbing her eyes.

"You hate Christian and he didn't even know what was going on, but yet you let Dimitri in, who kind of had a clue of what was going on?"

"I don't hate Christian," Lissa answered, looking down.

"You're still seeing him?" I asked, disbelief creeping into my voice.

"It's nothing to freak out about," Lissa pleaded.

"Nothing to freak out about?" I demanded. "Why?"

"When you went missing, Christian was a big help to us. He tried to find you," a voice said. I jumped, startled once more. "We both thought Adrian had you but whenever we tried to search the place for you, he always managed to get in our way."

"Dimitri," Lissa greeted him. He walked in and stopped besides the bed. I scrambled over to the opposite corner, nearly tripping. He looked at Katya then at me.

"She looks as I imagined you would as a child, Roza," he said, looking at me.

"Her eyes are lighter as is her hair," I whispered.

"What's her full name?" He asked softly.

"Katerina Lily Hathaway," Lissa answered for me.

"Katarina Lilya," he repeated, using the Russian names. "красивый."

Seeing my confused look, Lissa translated. "He said "beautiful"."

"Are you going to tell her about..." Dimitri trailed off.

I sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't want her to think that because of the way she was conceived means that I love her any less."

He looked at me and smiled. A pleasant feeling filled me and I blushed, looking away.

"May I hold her?" He asked softly, looking at her. He was staring at her with an expression I had never seen on his face.

Taking a deep breath, I went with my gut feeling. "If you drop her, I will murder you."

He laughed and I felt proud that I could someone like him laugh. "I won't drop her, I promise."

He held out his pinky finger to me, his smile fading as I left him hanging. He pursed his lips and looked away, picking up Katya.

"How old is she?" He asked, rocking her in his arms.

"She'll be two in two months," I said. He looked at me, worry crossing his features.

"Roza," he asked me softly. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Depends," I said, arching an eyebrow.

"I want you to tell me about it," he whispered. I knew what he meant. Nobody, not even my therapist, has asked me that.

Taking another deep breath, knowing I would probably regret it, I answered. "What do you want to know?"


	6. Chapter 6

I sat staring at Dimitri, waiting for him to ask the first question. I could almost see his thought process: going between what he wanted to know and whether that would cross the imaginary lines.

"What were you doing in the bar?" he finally asked, softly.

"That was my fault," Lissa interjected. "I persuaded her to come with me and use the new fake IDs a friend had gotten us."

"And that particular bar was infamous for not carding and we figured that we would have the best luck there. It helped that my dad owned the bar," I finished. "But you know as well as I do that a different bar wouldn't have stopped him."

"Not going to a bar in the first place would have," he responded, his voice hard.

"For how long? How long until he attacked me coming from school or going to work?" I cried, my outburst waking Katya. She started to cry and I took her from Dimitri's arms without a fight.

I rocked her back and forth in my arms, whispering her name over and over. She calmed nearly instantly.

"I could have saved you," he whispered, his voice raw with emotion. "If you weren't there, I could've stopped him."

I turned away from his burning gaze. "It shouldn't have been up to you to protect me. I shouldn't have drank so much. It's as much of my fault as it is his."

"It is not your fault. It was never your fault. He should have never been marauding you like he was," Dimitri retorted.

"I can't control what he did. But I could control what I did," I said, rubbing my hand over Katya's back. I breathed in deeply, her baby smell soothing me. "What he did was awful, yes, and he deserves to spend his life behind bars, but-"

"But nothing, Roza," Dimitri cut me off. "He will be behind bars. You can help put him behind bars by testifying."

"Testifying?" Lissa interrupted.

"Ad-" I couldn't say his name. "His trial is tomorrow. The prosecution has asked that I testify and bring Katerina as proof."

"No!" Lissa cried. She didn't want Katya anywhere near him. "They have proof of rape from the test Rose had to do when she got back."

"He has hired some of the best defense lawyers that money can buy. We will need everything possible to make sure that he stays behind bars," Dimitri retorted.

"There's a chance he could get off?" I asked, eyes wide, at the same time Lissa questioned, "We?"

"Possibly. Who knows the amount of lies him and his lawyers have come up with by now," he answered, ignoring Lissa.

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Lissa demanded for a second time.

"It's a long story," Dimitri sighed, trying to find a way out.

"We have time," I said, backing Lissa up.

Raking a hand through his hair, Dimitri sighed. "Adrian was well known for having many er- conquests. We believed that most of them were not consensual. Except that we couldn't do anything about it because none of these girls would come forward and admit that they were raped. I was part of the team that sent in to befriend Adrian and get evidence that he has been raping girls all over the city. Christian was part of that team as well. We are both agents and lawyers and both on the prosecution team."

"If you're an agent, then why didn't you take him down that night?" I was furious. The former pity I felt for him was gone. In the back of my mind, I registered the fact that Dimitri was beating himself up earlier over failing his mission, not because of me. My mood dropped. He didn't really care.

"There are rules that I had to follow, Rose. I couldn't just take him down because he looked at a girl wrong. He had to make a move that would incriminate him," Dimitri shot back.

"He did make a move! He fucking drugged me!" I shouted at him. Katerina flinched and woke again. I passed her to Lissa, and started to pace the room. "How did you manage to miss that?"

He froze. "Roza, what are you talking about?"

I stared at him in disbelief. There was an unrecognizable emotion in his eyes. I thought I saw pity and hurt flash in them, but I had to be wrong. He didn't care. "He drugged me so that he could take me."

I looked down, collapsing into the chair besides my bed.

"You don't remember?" His tone made me look up. His eyes were wide and startled.

"Remember what?" I demanded.

"Roza," he said softly. "Adrian never drugged you. And he didn't force you to leave will him. You went willingly.

Black spots danced in front of my eyes and I saw Lissa rushing towards me before the darkness claimed me entirely.

-o0o-

"Good morning, Rosie," his cold voice whispered in my ear. I jolted and the cuffs that bound me to the bed chafed against my skin. I cried out in pain and whimpered softly. I squeeze my eyes tight, hoping that when I open them, I will be in my bed and this whole year had been a huge nightmare. Except when I opened them, I was looking into his cold, merciless green eyes.

Adrian stroked my cheek and I flinched away from his cold fingers. He chuckled softly and gripped my chin with his hand. Adrian's eyes met my wide ones once again. "Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. I will keep you here, bound," he paused, tugging on the chains, "forever."

I couldn't stop myself from struggling against the chains again. The cold metal dug into my skin and the pain made me cry aloud. "Let me go," I cried, tears streaming down my face. I jerked the chain again, biting down on my lip to prevent my scream of pain. Glancing up, I could see blood trickling down my wrist.

Walking around the bed, he jerked the thin sheet that covered me off. Running his fingers over my swollen abdomen, he grinned at me sadistically. I flinched and tried to push myself into the mattress to get away from him. I gasped as a different wave of pain crashed through me and I felt liquid between my bare thighs. My water broke. Adrian immediately noticed the difference in me and quickly left the room, phone in hand. Another contraction ran through me and I winced. The contractions continued, getting closer and closer.

I was gasping when he entered the room again. Adrian quickly undid the chains and pulled me out of the bed. I stumbled and gasp, hunching over at another contraction.

"Rose," Adrian hissed. "Get the fuck up."

He yanked me up and practically pulled me up the stairs and into another bedroom. One with a real bed and real blankets. I collapsed on the bed, sighing at the comfort. Adrian quickly wrapped my wrists with bandage and stuck them under the blanket. I heard the doorbell ring and Adrian glared at me.

"Keep your mouth shut," he snarled, walking out. A few minutes later, he came back, a nurse with him.

"Oh, dear," she said, examining me. "You're ready to start pushing."

Adrian sat in the corner, making sure that I never got a second alone with the nurse. I screamed out as another contraction passed and the nurse called to push. And I pushed and pushed. Soon, I heard a cry fill the room and my eyes watered. The nurse placed my baby girl in my arms.

"She is very underweight," the nurse started rambling off medical information. I zoned out, staring down at my beautiful baby girl. She stopped crying as soon as she was placed in my arms. Her eyes were wide and dark blue. She really was tiny but mesmerizing. "…naming her?"

"What?" I asked, only getting the end of her sentence.

She laughed. "What are you naming her?"

I didn't hesitate. "Katerina Lily Hathaway."

Adrian raised his eyebrows at me and I looked away. I tried to get the nurses attention to get help but he escorted her out quickly. When he came back, he didn't even bother taking me back to the basement. Adrian grabs Katerina from my arms and quickly restrained me with chains I failed to notice before.

"You didn't really think that I would bring you into a room where I couldn't restrain you, did you?" He laughed mercilessly. "I told to keep your fucking mouth shut, whore."

Katerina started to scream and he turned and threw the pillow at her.

"Leave her alone!" I sobbed. "Don't touch her!"

I pulled against my restraints with new strength, the urge to protect my daughter overwhelming me. He turned his cold, burning eyes on me.

"Oh, I'll leave her alone, Rosie," he snarled, approaching me, stripping down. I tried to move away with no results.

"No, you can't. No!" I screamed as he came closer, that grin on his face again.

"Yes, I can, Rosie," he smiled heartlessly. "Yes, I can."

He pinned me to the mattress and I tried to clench my thighs together. Adrian laughs and simply yanks my legs apart, thrusting himself inside me. I screamed.

-o0o-

I woke with a jolt, the sheets with sticking to me. I was lying in my bed, the covers pulled all the way up. I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to calm my breaths. Dimitri was at my bedside, asleep in the chair. I sat up and climbed out of bed the opposite way and walked out of the door, towards the kitchen. The sun was shining in the window and Lissa sat at the table, feeding Katya. It was only a dream- memory. I corrected my thoughts. We're safe now.

"Momma," she said, lifting her arms as soon as she saw me. I picked her up and hugged her close to me.

"Good morning, Katya," I grinned at her and she smiled back. "Let Auntie Lissa finish feeding you and then we can go to the park, okay?"

"Otay, momma," Katya struggled against my hold and I laughed. I set her in her chair and opened the fridge. I grabbed a yogurt with granola and sat next to Katya.

Halfway through my yogurt, Lissa takes Katya out of her high chair.

"Momma, me done," Katya clapped her hands and jumped up and down next to my chair. "Momma, me ready."

I laughed. "Silly girl, you have to change and brush your teeth and put on your shoes."

She giggled as Lissa cleaned up her breakfast mess. "Otay, Momma. Me go get ready now."

She turned and started to run towards her bedroom. I stand and turn into time to see her run directly into Dimitri. "Dada?"

She was sitting on the ground, staring up at him in shock. He had an equal amount of shock written across his face. I shot towards her and picked up Katya.

"Katya, sweetie. He's not dada," I cooed softly to her. I shot an apologetic look at Dimitri. "I'm sorry. She just-"

"Me want dada!" Katya screamed, struggling against me. She reached her arms out to Dimitri. She kept wriggling to get out of my arms. "Me want dada!"

She started to scream and wriggle more. I gaped at her in shock. "Katerina Lily Hathaway! Stop it right now!"

"Me want dada! Me want dada!" she screamed louder.

"Roza, let me take her," Dimitri offered. My eyes went wide and I stumbled backwards. Katya screamed even louder. "Roza, please. Let me take her."


	7. Chapter 7

"Roza," Dimitri urges me. "Please."

Katerina struggles in my arms, crying inconsolably. Dimitri reaches towards her and I let her switch from my arms to his. Her sobs stop and she locks her arms around his neck. His eyes are wide as he locks his hands under her butt to support her. He buries his nose in Katerina's curls and takes a deep breath. Katya's eyes are starting to flutter close.

Suddenly, her head shoots up. "Dada, come to pwaygrond wit momma and me?"

"I'm sure he has stuff to do, sweetheart. Auntie Lissa will come with us, though," I tell her as Dimitri sets her on her feet. She takes off running to her bedroom and Lissa follows her, giving me a look.

"I would love to go to the playground with the two of you, but I have to plan out with Christian for the trial today," Dimitri tells me.

"When is the trial? What time?" I question softly, wrapping my arms around me tightly.

"Three forty-five," he answers, sadness in his eyes. I look away, past his shoulder. _He doesn't care. He doesn't care._

"Okay," I say. I start to walk past him and pause, turning back around. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he tells me softly. "Goodbye, Roza."

"Goodbye, Dimitri," I say back. He nods and walks out the front door of the apartment. When I joined Lissa and Katya upstairs, I was surprised to see that she was completely dressed and ready to go.

"Where dada, momma?" Katerina asks me as I walk into the room.

"He had to go to work, Katya," I tell her, kneeling down and running my hands through her curls. "Listen, Katya, Dimitri isn't your daddy, okay?"

"But, momma," she starts,

"Katerina, no buts. We're going to see Dimitri later today. You can't call him dada, okay?" I tell her, cupping her face. "Give momma a kiss, Katya?"

She smiles, squeezing my face between her two hands and giving me a wet kiss.

"Autie Wissa," Katya looks up at Liss. "You come wit momma and me?"

"Yes, Katya, I'm coming to the playground with you," Lissa says. She picks Katya up while I pull out her stroller from the closet by the door. A knock on the door startles me, causing me to drop the stroller. I open the front door and I find myself looking into eyes identical to mine.

"Daddy," I gasp. I throw myself into his arms and he catches me.

"Rose, Rose," he murmurs. "I've missed you, baby girl."

"Granpah!" Katya comes running down the hall and my father releases me to catch my daughter.

"There's my other baby girl," he spins her in a circle, clutching her tightly.

"You come to pwaygrond wit momma and me and Autie Wissa?" Katya asks. My dad smiles and nods his head.

"Of course I'll come to the playground with you," he answers her and she squeals. I call up to Lissa that we're leaving and she runs down the stairs.

"Abe," Lissa greets my father. He wraps her in his free arm and hugs her tightly.

"Lissa, thank you for taking care of my daughter and granddaughter these past months," he whispers. She nods and tries to discreetly wipe a couple tears from her eyes. I take Katerina from her grandpa's arms and strap her into her stroller. It's almost one o'clock by the time we leave the apartment. The park isn't far from our house and the entire time that we walk there, Katya holds on to my dad's hand and tells him all about her plans for the park.

I park the stroller next to a bench and unstrap Katya. She takes off, running towards the massive red slide. Lissa runs after her and Abe sits beside me on the green bench.

"Rosemarie," he turns to me. "How are you? Honestly."

"Honestly? I don't know how the hell I'm going to get through the trial today," I say. "I breakdown at the thought or mention of him and that's not even actually seeing him. And Katerina has taken to calling Dimitri Belikov 'dada'."

My father raises his eyebrow. "Has he been spending a lot of time around the apartment?"

"No!" My voice raises an octave. "He was there this morning and that's the only time Katya has seen him there. I don't understand why she would call him that when she just met him today."

"Rose, there's no father figure in her life. You said that you didn't allow her to interact with Adrian and that she didn't even know he was there," my dad says. "It makes somewhat of sense that the first male she sees is the male she associates with being her dad."

"I don't know," I say. "If she calls him 'dada' at the trial, then it could screw up the case royally."

"Having a kid really corrected your language problem," Abe notes with interest at my use of 'screw' instead of 'fuck'.

"Daddy," I roll my eyes.

"Anything else going on that I don't know about?" he asks me, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"Same old, same old," I answer. "Nothing has really changed since you last saw me. How's Mom?"

"She's good," he tells me. "She told me to pass on her love and to tell you that she'll get down here as soon as she possibly can."

I roll my eyes again. "Always preoccupied with work."

"Rosemarie," my dad scolds. "You know that she wishes she can be here right now for you. Don't be like that."

"Don't be like that?" I smart off. "She's barely said five words to me since I got back! You would think that she would be a little more concerned about her only child."

"Actually, Rose, you have a little brother," Abe says calmly.

"W-what?" I sputter.

"He's Katya's age, and his name is Aiden. Aiden Thomas Mazur," he says.

"Why am I just now finding out about him? I've been back for three months now and have seen both you and Mom at least a couple times." I want to shout.

"We didn't want to scare him. He goes from being an only child to suddenly having an older sister and a niece that's his age," Dad tries to explain.

"That doesn't explain why I don't know about him," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. Katerina comes running up to me and climbs into my lap. I check the time, seeing that it's almost two.

"Momma, me tired," Katya says, sucking on her thumb.

"Let's get you home and give you a bath, then you can sleep. How does that sound, baby?"

"Otay, momma," she answers, yawning. I re-strap her into the stroller and give my dad another hug. He walks the opposite way and Lissa and I keep talking to Katerina in loud voices to keep her awake.

I quickly give her a bath, washing her hair and body before rinsing her. Lissa sets a small bowl of macaroni and cheese on the table in front of her and she downs it faster than I ever did before curling up in the chair and falling asleep. I transfer her to her bed before getting in the shower.

I feel like my nerves are on fire as I dress in a knee length black skirt and a white blouse. I pull my hair back in a tight ponytail, using ton of hairspray to keep the shorter flyaway pieces at bay. Choosing to go with the more natural route, I apply very little makeup and check the time once more. Three o'clock. I get even more nervous as I wake Katya and dress her in a fancy-ish dress and comb her unruly curls back.

I give Lissa a hug, declining her offer to come with me. Dimitri already told her that she wouldn't be needed to testify because she wasn't there for majority of the time that Adrian and I spent together before leaving the bar.

I strap Katerina in to her car seat, unsurprised to see that she's asleep before I even pull out of the driveway. The drive to the courthouse in downtown Los Angles seems to take forever, even though I know that it's only roughly fifteen minutes. Dimitri is standing outside the front doors when I arrive.

Katya is still sleeping when I meet him on the steps. His brown hair is tied back in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck and his hands in are in suit pockets. He has the two buttons on his suit jacket button and his eyes are staring out the opposite direction. I clear my throat and he turns, his eyes light up briefly.

"Roza," he says.

"Dimitri," I say back. He leads me into the courthouse and through the back doors to the courtroom. He points at a table in the front of the room and I sit behind it. Christian Ozera is already sitting on my left. Dimitri takes the seat on my right and I find myself sandwiched between the two guys. They both scoot their chairs over fractionally, giving me more space. My heart is beating out of control as I see the door on the other side open. A security guard enters, followed by Adrian Ivashkov in shackles. I gasp and my breath gets stuck in my throat.

Adrian spots me almost immediately and smiles cruelly, his gaze focused on Katerina. I clutch her tightly to me and blink rapidly to clear the tears. I tense as I feel Adrian's eyes on me. I see Dimitri turn and glare at him out of the corner of my eye. Katerina stirs slightly in my arms and I hug her tight to me.

_Shit. This is going to be harder than I thought._


	8. Author Note

AUTHOR NOTE: PLEASE READ: IMPORTANT:

I have not updated any of my stories recently for a couple of reasons, and most likely will not be able to update again until after I go out on Christmas break (December 19). One reason for this is because I have some family things going on right now and my family comes first. My mom just got out of the hospital last night and I have been playing nurse to help her out with whatever I can. Another reason is simply because my school work has become a lot more challenging. Three of my teachers decided to give out research papers at the same time and I also have finals coming up soon. My other four teachers have all decided to give out major tests that will have an massive effect on my grades. In my free time, I have been working on writing chapters for my stories and will be posting them when I finish them, and when I have time to do so. Hope you guys can understand.

-skd


	9. Chapter 9

*****Big thanks to Emoroza98, Do'B, dream-big-101, hannah, thebeastinsideusall, and Ginevra Annabeth Herondale for reviewing that last couple of chapters! As always, I apologize in advance for the inevitable typos and mistakes. Enjoy the chapter –skd*** **

His eyes don't leave mine and I cannot stop staring at him. He looks like shit; his hair is greasy and he looks pale. His green eyes, however, haven't changed a bit. They are still cold and calculating and hold a predatory look. His cruel grin widens as he realizes that I haven't stopped staring at him.

Fear builds are he continues to stare at me and my heart rate increases. Katerina shifts in my arms and I pull my eyes away from Adrian to look at my daughter. Sensing my stress, Katya wakes and stares up at me with sleepy eyes. She wraps her arms around my neck and hides her face in my groove between my shoulder and my neck.

"Momma, me hungy," she murmurs against my neck. I kiss the top of her head, breathing in her adorable, toddler scent.

"Do you want to Goldfish?" I ask her. She leans back slightly so I can see her face and she nods. I reach into my bag and pull out the Ziploc baggie of Goldfish crackers. Katerina pulls her thumb out of her mouth so that she can eat the crackers.

"Rosemarie." I turn around and see my father sitting behind us. "Give me Katya."

"Granpah! Momma, I want granpah!" Katerina sees Abe and bounces excitedly in my lap.

"Give mommy a kiss, and then you can go to Grandpa," I tell her. She grins and puckers her lips, placing a wet kiss on my lips. I giggle and pass her back to Abe, giving him her bag as well.

I turn around and face forward. I can still feel Adrian's eyes on me and I have the urge to look back over at him. I feel Dimitri's hand on my knee, squeezing reassuringly. I still flinch and he removes his hand from my knee.

"All rise."

Dimitri and Christian rose on either side of me and I quickly joined them. An older woman enters the courtroom, and takes her place behind the raised desk. She sits and everyone in the courtroom follows.

The jury was already seated and my gaze travelled over them. Six men and six women, all of them white. The judge banged her gavel and nodded at Dimitri. He stood, and faced the jury.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and thank you for being here today. My name is Dimitri Belikov, and I'll be representing Miss Rosemarie Hathaway." He paused for a brief moment, glancing down at the papers in front of him.

"You're here today to hear evidence in the trial of Mr. Adrian Ivashkov, who stands accused of multiple counts of first-degree sexual assault against my client. Mr. Ivashkov was arrested from the house the Miss Hathaway was found in after being missing for three years. The defense wants you to feel sorry for him, because the defense wants you to believe that his crime is justified.

"It's my job to uphold the law. And in this courtroom, I'm going to show you that Mr. Ivashkov broke the law. He broke a very clear law that's written in black and write. A law that everyone knows and understands.

"Mr. Ivashkov sexually assaulted a young woman. It doesn't matter why he assaulted her, or how sad his life has been. It matters that he assaulted her. As members of the jury, it's your job to make sure he pays for that crime. It's your job to be blind because that's the only way we can be sure that justice will be served. I'm going to ask you to serve justice to Mr. Ivashkov at the end of this trial, and I know that you're going to see that it gets done. Because I'm going to prove that Mr. Ivashkov broke the law, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.

"Thank you." Dimitri finished before sitting once more in the chair beside me. I could feel Adrian's cold eyes burning into me, but refused to look at him, refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me scared again.

I could hear rustling of papers across the courtroom. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is Jesse Zeklos and it is my privilege to represent Mr. Adrian Ivashkov in this case before you today. You have heard the prosecutor explain what he hopes will be proven, but the prosecutor did not tell you all the facts. The prosecutor has explained that my client was arrested from the house that Miss Hathaway was found in, but that does not identify him as the one who kidnapped Miss Hathaway. Nor does it identify him as the one who sexually assaulted Miss Hathaway. I ask you to keep an open mind and listen to all of the evidence, and return a verdict of "not guilty".

"Thank you." More papers rustled and a chair scraped against the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Christian's disgusted look at the defense's plea of a "not guilty" verdict.

"I call Miss Rosemarie Hathaway to the stand please." The voice carries in the silent courtroom, and I stand.

A man with platinum blond hair and blue eyes stands in front of me and I assume that this is Adrian's lawyer, Mr. Zeklos.

"Miss Hathaway, please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand," he tells me. I comply and raise my hand.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" he asks me. I nod and he chastises me. "Verbal answers only, Miss Hathaway."

"I do," I say meekly.

"Now, Miss Hathaway," he starts. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one."

"How old were you when Mr. Ivashkov allegedly sexually assaulted you?"

"Eighteen," I answered, my voice still soft.

"Where did you first meet Mr. Ivashkov?"

"My father's club," I replied.

"When you were eighteen?" Mr. Zeklos's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, sir," I say.

"Pray tell, what were you doing in a bar when you were not of legal age?"

"I was hanging out with a friend."

"Did you consume any alcoholic beverages?" He questions, turning slightly.

"Yes, sir."

"Were you intoxicated when you left the club?"

"I believe so," I answer. His eyebrows go up again.

"You 'believe so'? Were you not aware that you were intoxicated?"

"No, sir. I do not recall leaving the club. I had believed that he had drugged me," I answered, my voice quiet.

"Where were you when you awoke?" he questions.

"I was in a tiny room with no windows. My feet and wrists were bound to the wooden posts of a bed and I was naked," I answer, my voice more confident than I felt. Glancing around briefly, I could see disgusted looks on the jurors' faces. Mr. Zeklos faltered for a moment before continuing.

"What happened next?"

"He entered the room and he took off his clothes and raped me," I stutter, trying to quell the swelling sob.

"Who is 'he', Miss Hathaway?"

"Ad-rian I-ivash-kov." I stumble over his name. Discreetly, I try to brush some of the fallen tears away.

"Who were you holding when you first walked in this courtroom?" he changes tactics.

"My daughter," I answer.

"Where is she now?" Mr. Zeklos persists.

"With my father," I say, gesturing towards where Abe sat with Katya in his arms.

"Bring her up here, please," Mr. Zeklos requests, though his voice is not nice.

Abe stands, as does Dimitri. He passes my daughter over to Dimitri, who carries her across the courtroom to me. Katya continues to suck her thumb and wraps her free arm around my neck. Mr. Zeklos stares at Katerina for a while before.

"Who is the father?"

"Mr. Ivashkov is her biological father, though I do not consider him a father in any other sense," I say, trying to keep my tone even.

"How old is your daughter, Miss Hathaway?"

"Twenty two months old."

"When was she born?"

"August 17, 2012," I say.

"How do you know that this was her birth date?"

"It is on her birth certificate," I say.

"Who delivered your daughter?"

"A midwife did," I answered, remember the nurse who helped me through the labor and delivery of the most precious thing in my life.

"That is all, Your Honor," the lawyer says before taking his seat beside Adrian. I go to rise and Dimitri subtly shakes his head at me.

"Mr. Belikov, would you like to cross-exam?" The judge asks and Dimitri stands.

"Yes, Your Honor." He crosses the room and stands directly in front of me. "Miss Hathaway, I just need to ask you a few questions."

"Do I need to swear on the Bible again?" I ask timidly. Dimitri chuckles.

"No, Miss Hathaway, you do not." Dimitri paces in front of me. "How long were you in Mr. Ivashkov's company?"

"Three years, give or take a few days."

"How do you know this?"

"It is what I was told when I was in the hospital. I have seen the article about my disappearance. It was reported on April 3, 2011. I came home on March 25, 2014," I answer. The dates are forever seared in my head. I see them every time I close my eyes.

"You were eighteen when you first met Mr. Ivashkov, yes?"

"Yes, I had just turned eighteen two days previously," I answer him.

Dimitri consults his notes and pierces me with his dark brown eyes.

"Miss Hathaway, could you please tell the jury exactly what happened the night you first met Mr. Ivashkov?" Dimitri asks.

I take a deep breath and swallow. "I went to the bar with my friend and we had a few drinks. We were given drinks by Mr. Ivashkov and his company. We joined them at their table and my friend went off with one of his friends. More drinks arrived at the table, and we drank. I blacked out and I don't remember anything else. When I woke up, I was tied to the bed."

"Did Mr. Ivashkov ever beat you?" Dimitri questions. Subconsciously, I rub my wrists where dark scars still marred my skin.

"Yes," I whisper.

"Did he ever beat you to where you had required medical attention?"

"No," I answer. My mind flashed to the couple of times that he nearly did beat me that much.

"Has he beat you severely?"

I nod. "Yes, he has."

"What would constitute him to beat you?" Dimitri paced in front of me.

"If I tried to stop him from raping me again, or if I tried to fight him off," I say, my voice barely for than a whisper. Emotion flared in Dimitri's eyes and he had to pause to get a grip on his emotions before asking the next question.

"Was your daughter the only child of yours who father is Mr. Ivashkov?"

"The only one living, yes," I replied to him. Dimitri understood what my words implied. I saw the sadness etched on his face and I turned my head to the side. The jury all had looks of sympathy on their faces.

"That is all, Miss Hathaway," Dimitri tells me and I climb down from the witness stand. Katerina is still sucking happily on her thumb, content in my arms.

"I call Mr. Adrian Ivashkov to the stand," Dimitri says, scribbling something down on a pad of paper.

"Mr. Ivashkov, place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand," Dimitri orders. It wasn't a request. Adrian raised his right hand.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"I do," Adrian sneers. Dimitri bristles.

"Mr. Ivashkov, how old were you when you met Miss Hathaway?"

"Twenty one," Adrian answers.

"Did you drug Miss Hathaway in the club?" Dimitri questions.

"Of course not." Adrian had the nerve to look offended by Dimitri's question.

"Why did you tie Miss Hathaway up?"

"Because she wanted it," Adrian mocked him. "Some people like being tied up during sex."

Dimitri stiffened. "If she wanted it, then why are there scars marring her wrist?"

Adrian shrugged carelessly. "Consequences of the lifestyle. It _is_ rough, kinky sex."

I could practically feel the hostility rolling off Dimitri. "Lifestyle?" He spits out that word as if was food that tasted awful.

Adrian gave Dimitri a cocky grin and said, "The BDSM lifestyle, of course. You do know what BDSM stands for right? Bonda-"

"I know what it stands for," Dimitri seethes. "Miss Hathaway was locked away in your house for three years, correct?"

"She wasn't locked away in my house. She could leave anytime she wanted and she damn well knew it," Adrian replied, brushing his over-long hair out of his face with his shackled hands.

"If she could leave anytime she wanted, why do you suppose that she stayed there for three years?"

"Because we were in love," Adrian answers in a 'duh' voice.

"You were in love?" Dimitri is obviously incredulous.

"Yes, I just said that." Adrian replaces his 'duh' voice with one that screams 'no shit, Sherlock".

"And do you have proof that Miss Hathaway was there as of her own free will, and not being held captive?" Dimitri questions him.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Adrian states smugly.


	10. Chapter 10

*****Thank you so much to Do'B, ilovesos9467, DemonsRelm, Ginevra Annabeth Herondale, hiseask17, thebeastinsideusall, gardenrat, and Cathy for reviewing. I apologize now for it being so long since I last updated, I had hoped to get this chapter up sooner. Time passed faster than I thought. Enjoy the chapter (and the drama), there's a little surprise at the end –skd*****

Dimitri shows no indication that he was bothered by Adrian having evidence. On the other hand, I was completely shocked. What kind of evidence could he possibly have? My teeth locked on my lip as I gnawed at it. Adrian was still smirking at the witness stand, believing that he had thrown Dimitri off his guard. Dimitri announces that he has no further questions and Zeklos chooses not to cross-exam and instead moves straight into evidence.

Dimitri rejoins us as Mr. Zeklos stands up, his voice ringing through the courtroom. "Exhibit A."

The bailiff approaches him and takes the folder that he is holding. The bailiff shows them first to the judge and then to the jury. A few eyebrows shoot up and I gnaw at my lip harder. He shows the papers to Dimitri and Christian before setting them on the desk in front of me.

I gag and bile pools in my mouth as I flip open the folder and stare at the papers enclosed. It doesn't take long to realize that it is a highly detailed BDSM contract, and at the bottom is a vague signature, though I can make out a –R and a –H. I want to laugh at their attempt to forge a signature and instead close the folder.

"Miss Hathaway," Zeklos stands in front of me. "Could you please sign your name on this piece of paper?"

The paper he hands me is completely blank and I slowly write out my name, making it neat. _Rosemarie Hathaway._

Zeklos takes the paper back and it is passed around the courtroom, though the folder stays on the desk in front of me. I can hear murmuring throughout the courtroom and I close my eyes as my head starts to pound.

"Roza," Dimitri whispers. "Are you okay?"

I can barely shake my head and reach into my bag for my medication. I take five pills instead of the normal dose. My leg bounces nervously up and down as the piece of paper is returned to me.

"Exhibit B," Zeklos continues, pointing a black remote at the screen. A picture of my driver's license fills the screen, a closer view of the signature next to it. "As you can see here, the two signatures are a close match, despite the fact that Miss Hathaway just signed this paper so neatly."

My jaw clenches tightly and my hands fist under the table. I tune Zeklos out as blood pounds through my body. I can feel a panic attack quickly approaching and try to breathe slowly, in and out, to calm myself down.

"Roza?"

Dimitri bent down next to me and grabbed my arm, leading me out of the courtroom.

"The trial," I murmured, trying to get back inside.

"Roza, you are unwell," Dimitri said, leading me over to a bench. "Sit," he ordered and my legs gave out from under me. "They closed the trial for today, it will pick back up tomorrow."

"What else did Zeklos show?" I murmured, trying to get back up. Dimitri pushed me back down.

"Roza, you need to stay seating," Dimitri ordered me again, glancing behind me for Abe and Katerina.

"Momma!" Katerina ran through the crowd, Abe hot on her heels. She jumped and I immediately reached out to grab her. My arms lost all their strength and Katya started to slip. Dimitri's arms shot out and lifted her into my lap.

"Mank you," Katerina murmured.

"You're very welcome, Katya," Dimitri answered her softly.

"Rose, what happened in there?" Abe asked, sitting next to me. "You looked like you were going to pass out."

I didn't answer and tried to change the subject. "How far away is your and Mom's house?"

"Rosemarie," Abe said warningly. I stared ahead steadily as my stomach recoiled.

Dimitri stared at me suspiciously. "How many pills did you take?"

"Five," I muttered. Dimitri let out a string of curses in Russian.

"Dammit, Roza," he whisper shouted. He back away from me and raked his hands through his hair. "Those are dangerous pills. You are only supposed to take one, not five!"

"It's none of your business," I said through gritted teeth. I realized that he never answered my question. "Dimitri, what else did Zeklos show in evidence?"

"Noth-"

"Just tell her, Belikov," Abe sighed, taking Katya from my arms.

Dimitri's cheeks turned a bit pink. "There were some photos."

"Photos?" I spluttered. "What kind of photos?"

He gave me a look and instantly I knew. My stomach recoiled again and I ran for the bathroom, emptying my stomach. Somebody held my hair back as I continued to dry heave, my stomach still trying to empty itself. After I was done, the person handed me a warm cloth to wipe my mouth with and offered me a hand up.

"Are you even allowed to be in here?" I asked him, not looking him in the eye as I walked past him to the sink.

Dimitri shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," I snapped, harsher than I meant to. "Please, just go."

"Roza, I'm sor-"

"Don't," I held up a hand. "I don't need your pity or your sympathy or your remorse over failing your mission, okay?"

"Roza."

"Just stop!" I shout at him. "I get it, okay? I know that you hate that you failed your mission and that you think it's your fault that I got taken, but I do not want to hear you rambling on about it! Please leave."

"Are you sure you're okay? I care about you, Rose, and don't want to have you hurt anymore," Dimitri whispered, though he stayed where he was. Fury ran through me.

"No, you don't. You care about your stupid mission, not me. You regret failing your mission not that I got taken," I snapped back. I moved to walk around him and he reached out, grabbing my arm. I froze.

"That's not true," he whispered softly. "I do care about you."

Ever so slowly, he bent down and pressed his lips against mine in the softest of kisses. I unfroze as my arm moved subconsciously, leaving a bright red mark on his cheek. He back up, eyes wide, hand over the red mark.

"Roza, I-"

"You fucking prick," I hissed before bolting from the bathroom. Grabbing Katya, I ignored Christian and Abe and walked out of the courthouse.

**Dimitri POV (Surprise!) **

Stupid. Fucking stupid. What the hell was I thinking, kissing her? It's been three months since she's left that monster's company. I still remembered vividly when we finally found Rosemarie Hathaway.

_"Dimitri," Christian voice comes through the phone, urgently. My sleepy fog cleared up immediately and I bolted up right. _

_"What is it?" I question, flipping on the light besides my bed. _

_"We know where Rosemarie Hathaway is," he answered after a beat. _

_"Has she been rescued yet?" I'm out of bed and dressed in under a minute. The door slams behind me as I jog out to my car. _

_"No, not yet," Christian answered. "Waiting for backup."_

_"Send me the coordinates," I snapped, hanging up. My tires squealed as I sped out of the driveway, quickly breaking the speed limit as I took the road to the highway. My phone chimed with Christian's text and I glanced down, setting the coordinates into my GPS. _

_It takes thirty minutes to get there and by time I pull up, Christian is already briefing the team. "Belikov," Christian greets me. "You get Rose and anybody else in there, my guys will take care of Adrian. We need him alive," Christian warns. _

_I nod and take the walkie talkie he offers me. I double check that my gun is loaded and made sure I had extra bullets before grabbing a flashlight. _

_"Dimitri, you, Anderson, and myself will be going in on the lower levels. The others will scale the house and access through the windows and roof," Christian reminds me. I nod numbly, praying that Rose Hathaway is still alive inside. _

_I wait for the signal before moving through the darkness towards the lit estate. Not bothering being quiet, I smash a window leading into a bathroom and quickly climb through. Sharp glass punctures my clothing but I barely noticed. As I exited the bathroom, I heard the others entering around the house. A couple shots rang out and I held my breath. Creeping around the corner, I spot Christian kicking open a door. He shines his flashlight down the dark staircase and I step forward. _

_"I'll go," I tell him. "Go get that asshole."_

_I take the steps two at a time and kick open each and every door, shining my flashlight around. So far all of them have been empty. Coming to the last room, I shoved the door open, kicking it three times. The door fell away and I rushed into the room, shining my flashlight all around. _

_"Momma!" A little girl with dark hair sat next to a limp body, smacking her face. "Momma!" _

_The little girl burst into tears and I swept her up into my arms, holding up my walkie. _

_"Belikov reporting. Requesting backup in the basement, last door on the left."_

_I tried my best to soothing the screaming, squirming child and as soon as Christian entered the room, I handed her off. I stood next to the bedside, wishing I had a sheet up to cover up the girl's nudeness. I immediately felt for a pulse, thanking God when I felt a weak one. My eyes lock on the thick silver chains that bound the girl to the bed. Dark scarred marred her lovely skin and her brown-black hair was matted with dirt and grime and blood. Though nearly unrecognizable, I could tell that this broken girl was Rose Hathaway. _

_Anderson stepped into the room, tossing me a small silver key. I caught it before turning and unlocking Rose's chains. She didn't even stir. _

_"Call and ambulance!" I order Anderson._

_"Already done, it's waiting outside," he replied and I lifted Rose into my arms. The extent of her injuries were revealed to Christian and Anderson, making both of them gasp. Not one inch of her body was left unbruised. There were thick, dark, bloody welt running around her ankles and wrists and her body was tiny. She weighed less than a feather. I could easy see and count the number of ribs she had and the gap between her thighs was definitely not healthy. I hurried up the stairs, trying to hide her nakedness with my own body. The paramedics took her from my arms and roared away, sirens blaring and lights flashing. _

_She was safe. _

I shuddered as I yanked out of the memory. I remembered the anger in her eyes earlier and my heart clenched at the thought that she thought I didn't care. I cared about her more than I cared to share. It was never about the mission to put Adrian Ivashkov behind bars. It was always about saving Rosemarie Hathaway.

And now I had probably just fucked everything up.


	11. Chapter 11

*****Thank you DemonsRelm and ilovesos9467 for reviewing the last chapter. Hopefully the next update will come a lot sooner than this one did. It's late here, but I wanted to get this chapter up tonight/this morning, so fair warning that there may be a lot of grammar mistakes. I will try to go through it later tomorrow/today to edit it. Enjoy the chapter –skd*****

* * *

I tossed and turned all night, unable to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. I think that I finally passed out from exhaustion sometime around four in the morning, but it didn't last long as I woke screaming around four thirty. Silently, I listened for Katerina's cries or the floorboards creaking as Lissa came up to check on me. I heard neither, but I couldn't fall back asleep after that, and just continued tossing and turning. As dawn quickly approached, the sunshine just barely peeking into my bedroom, I gave up entirely on sleeping and padded across the hallway into Katerina's room. She was sound asleep, curled up on her side, her thumb in her mouth. I kneeled beside her bed and ran my hand over her curly hair. She instinctively leaned into my touch and I placed a soft kiss on her forehead, before backing out of the room silently.

The apartment was eerily silent, despite it being early, and the floorboards creaked underneath me as I walked down the stairs. Lissa's bedroom door was wide open, her bed empty. The bathroom in the hall was empty, and a sliver of fear ran through me before I saw the note on the refrigerator.

_Rose, in case you wake up before I get home, I'm with Christian, and there is nothing to worry about. Love you, Lissa _

I sighed and threw the note away before starting the coffee maker. I leaned on the counter, yawning as I picked up my phone. I had four missed calls from Dimitri, three of which had accompanying voicemails that I promptly deleted, and five text messages, three of them from Dimitri and two from my dad.

I couldn't resist tapping the screen to bring up Dimitri's messages. The first two messages were essays, and I scrolled past them, but not before seeing the words _I'm sorry_. The last message was simple, only a few lines and it read: _Court reopens at nine, please be at the courthouse by eight thirty with Katerina_.

I sighed and checked the time, seeing that it was six thirty. My coffee gurgled into the pot and I pulled a mug down from the cabinet. I perched myself on one of the stools in front of the kitchen island and slowly sipped my coffee. My stomach rumbled like it had been doing all night, and I sipped more coffee, resisting the urge to make toast.

As I get up to put my mug into the sink, I heard the door creak open and then soft footsteps crossing from the hardwood floors onto the rug. "Good morning, Lissa," I say softly, pouring coffee into a mug. "Coffee?"

She walked into the kitchen, her heels dangling from her hands, and takes the coffee from me. "You scared me. What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," I muttered, setting the pot back on the machine.

Lissa gave me a disapproving look. "Rose, maybe you should go back to the doctors. Get something to help you sleep."

"I don't want drugs, Lissa," I snapped. "I don't need something to help me sleep."

"Yes, you do," Lissa said softly. "You usually don't sleep, and when you do, it's only for hours at a time, hardly, and you are never well-rested."

"I'm fine," I growled.

"You're not fine," Lissa pleads. "You don't sleep, you don't eat, and some days I can't get your attention unless I'm practically screaming your name."

"Lissa! Enough!" I shout. "I don't need you hounding me about stupid shit that is none of your damn business!"

"It is my business when I'm supposed to be taking care of you and helping you readjust."

"No, it really isn't," I tell her. "You try to understand, but it's impossible for you to do so. You have no clue what I went through."

"I realize that, Rose, and I'm only trying to help," Lissa placed her hand over mine on the counter and I pulled it away.

"I don't need your help, and I don't want your pity," I retorted. She started to reply and I cut her off. "No, don't even try to say that you don't pity me, because I know you do. I can see it in your eyes and in everybody else's. I'm not stupid."

"Rose, pity isn't necessarily a bad thing," Lissa says softly. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you when you most needed my help, and I'm trying my hardest to make up for that now, I really am."

"It is a bad thing when I don't want it," I say. "Like I said before, I'm fine."

She pursed her lips and shook her head. "Did you eat breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Liar." Lissa sets her mug on the counter and pulls out the egg carton and some bacon. "I'm making you breakfast and you will eat every last inch of it."

"Lissa! I already ate and if you make me something, I will not eat and it will be thrown in the garbage can." I turned away from her.

"What did you eat then?" Lissa questioned and I knew from her tone that her hands were on her hips.

"Toast," I said, walking away. I checked back in on Katerina before I shut myself in the bathroom. As I pulled my shirt over my head, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and my stomach turned. Scars littered my body, on my arms, across my chest, on my waist. I had stretch marks from when I was pregnant with Katerina and I still had left over baby fat that hung over the waist of my sweats. As I went to pull my sweats off, I caught glimpse of the fresh cuts on my arms and turned away from the mirror.

The hot water of the shower burned my skin, but I ignored the pain. My skin was raw and stinging by time I climbed out of the shower and Lissa was knocking on the bathroom door. I ignored her as I passed and locked my bedroom door to prevent her from getting in. I dressed in a skirt that was similar to the one I wore yesterday, but this time I wore it with a pair of sheer tights and grey short sleeved blouse. I pulled my black blazer off its hanger after a moment of debating, using it to hide the cuts on my arms. Brushing my hair back, I pulled the long, dark strands into a simple French twist and unlocked the door.

Katerina was stumbling out of her bedroom at the same time that I swung the door open.

"Mommy," she called and lifted her arms. I picked her up and carried her down the stairs, placing her in her booster seat. "Autie Wissa," she mumbled behind a yawn, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, Katya," Lissa murmured, kissing Katya's forehead. Lissa placed a bowl of scrambled eggs in front of her along with a spoon.

"Mank you," Katya slurred, sipping orange juice out of the sippy cup Lissa gave her.

"Katerina, baby," I told her. "We have to go back to court today, the place we went yesterday afternoon, okay?"

She stares at me a moment and nods. "We see Dimi?"

I can't help but smile at her nickname for Dimitri. "Yes, sweetheart. Remember what I said, okay? You can't call him Dada or Daddy."

"Otay, Mommy. Me no call him Dada," Katerina confirms for me and I smile, kissing her forehead. I let her finish eating while I check the contents of her diaper bag. I add a few more diapers and check the wipe supply before refilling her container of Goldfish and Cheerios. "Momma! Me done!"

I smile and lift her out of her booster seat and take her into the bathroom to get cleaned up. Spraying her hair with a bit of water to get through the mess of curls makes it easier and I scrape her hair back into a ponytail before helping her brush her teeth. Once bag in her room, I make quick work of changing her diaper and putting her into a simple black skirt and a white shirt with matching toddling shoes. She opts to sit on the counter as Lissa showers and I apply neutral makeup with a light dusting of foundation and mascara. I swipe on light lip gloss and pull Katya back into my arms.

Telling Lissa that we're leaving, I carry her out the door and to my shabby car where I buckle her into her car seat and make my way downtown. Instead of Dimitri waiting for me on the front steps of the courthouse, it's Christian.

"Rose," he greets me, smiling at Katya, who waves with a grin on her face.

"Good morning," I murmur back. He studies me, but doesn't say anything, leading me into the courtroom. Dimitri is already seating at the desk and I take my seat next to him as Christian stands in front of the table.

"Good morning," I force myself to greet him.

"Rose," he says stiffly, not turning to look at me.

Christian rolled his eyes as he started to tell me what to expect from today. "There will be more evidence today, as well as a few more testimonies. Zeklos might try to call you back up to the stand, and if he does, don't let him get to you. He will most likely be trying to get a reaction out of you. Him and Ivashkov both, so try not to let what they say get to you, okay?"

I nod, taking in everything that he says. He mentions a few other things before sighing. "In case you get called back to the stand, you should see the pictures that Zeklos showed yesterday, just as a precaution."

"Do I have too?"

Dimitri finally looks over at me and I see the sympathy and then shock in his eyes. "It's simply a precaution. It would not be good to have you freak out over the pictures up there."

"I'll go get them, and be right back. Whatever is the problem between the two of you, you need to solve it right now before the court goes into session," Christian reprimands the pair of us before walking away. I see him greet Lissa as she walks in and Lissa smiles radiantly.

"Dimi!" Katya calls, tugging on his sleeve. Dimitri looks down at her and smiles at her.

"Hello, Katerina," he says. "How are you?"

"Good," she nods and proceeds to bury her head in the crook between my neck and shoulder, suddenly shy.

"You look awful, Roza," Dimitri whispers, his smile fading the longer he stared at me.

"Well, that's a surefire way to boast a girl's confidence," I muttered sarcastically.

"That wasn't the way I meant it and you know that," he adds. "What happened last night?"

"You mean after you assaulted me?" I hissed.

He recoiled back slightly. "Roza."

"Don't call me that," I bristled.

"Rose," he corrected. "That wasn't my intention. I'm sorry for coming on to you so suddenly like that. I should have waited longer."

"You do understand that I am barely recovered from being raped practically twenty four seven for three years, right? I can't do that right now, Dimitri. Especially not with you," I hissed quietly. "And that fact that you pushed yourself on me like that lowers my trust in you greatly."

"I bent down slowly to kiss you. There was no way you didn't know what I was planning on doing," he justified.

"I froze, dammit!"

"And I'm sorry, I really am," he apologized. "Did you get my messages?"

"I didn't," I told him, facing away from him. I knew that he knew what I meant. In the moment of silence that stretched between us, my stomach rumbled loudly and Katya giggled, sitting up.

"Mommy, me go to Granmah and Granpah?" Katerina bounced on my lap, pointed behind me. I turned around and saw my parents sitting there smiling at me. My mom leans forwards as I pass her Katya.

"Rose," she starts and I shake my head. Her face falls as she leans back and plays with my daughter.

Dimitri's eyes are narrowed when I look back at him. "Did you eat today, Rose?"

"Of course," I lied again and his eyes narrowed farther.

"Rose," he chastises. "You were extremely malnourished when we rescued you and you've barely gained back any weight. You aren't healthy."

"I am," I argue. "Don't lie to me, I can see the fat hanging over my bottoms when I look into the mirror."

Dimitri's brow furrowed, but he dropped the subject. "And you didn't sleep last night," he tells me. "Your foundation doesn't cover the dark circle very well."

Before I could respond, Christian arrive back in front of us, a manila folder in his hand. "Rose, are you ready to see the photos?"

"No," I whispered. Dread settled in my gut as I tried to think what the photos could show.

"I'm so sorry," Christian whispered, setting the folder in front of me. Bile rose in my throat as I flipped through the pictures. There were countless photos of me tied to Adrian's bed, blindfolded and naked, but they somehow made it look like I was asking, begging if you will, for Adrian to screw me. There were a few of Adrian sleeping next to me, with him curled up against my body, with nothing to cover myself with. I never even knew that these photos had been taken. I shoved the folder away and closed my eyes. The photos were incriminating and by the looks on Dimitri and Christian's faces, they knew it too.

"We have our own pictures," Christian reassured me. "Pictures that prove that those were set up."

Tears came to my eyes as I thought about Adrian getting free, of what he would do to me and Katerina. The bailiff entered the courtroom, followed by Adrian and Zeklos. He looked worse than yesterday, but still his cold eyes locked on mine and he smirked. I gulped and stood as the judge entered.

Dimitri stood, buttoning his suit jacket. Set up on the opposite side of the judge's dais was a screen with a projector pointed at it.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have a few pieces of evidence that shows that the pictures you were shown yesterday were faked and set up to make it look as if Miss Hathaway was in Mr. Ivashkov's presence by choice," he said, his softly voice carrying through the silent courtroom. Even Katya was silent. He picked up a tiny black remote and pushed a button, the projector springing to life. A video began to play, showing a pan of a house. The screen spilt in two, showing two different points of view. One camera followed Dimitri – the ponytail in the back gave him away – and the other camera followed who I though was Christian based on his black hair.

From Christian's point of view, we see him kick open a door and then Dimitri joins him, saying something that is too low to make out clearly. Dimitri slowly descends the stairs as Christian leads his own team of men through the house. As Dimitri is slowly going through the basement, Christian is upstairs searching for Adrian. A shout had Christian running and the cameraman jogged to keep up with him, and reached him in time to see Christian tackling someone. Once he moved and cuffed the man's hands together, it was a bit hard to make out Adrian's face, but it was there.

Beside me, Christian muttered a curse under his breath as Dimitri paused the video. "Ladies and gentlemen, of the jury and the audience, what you are about to see is extremely graphic. This is how I found Miss Hathaway in Mr. Ivashkov's basement."

Dimitri played the video and it was almost like I was seeing it from his eyes. A girl with dark hair that was knotted tangled was shackled to the bed with thick metal chains that were obvious to see. As Dimitri came closer, so did the camera. Katerina was kneeling beside me, shouting, "Mommy!" over and over again. Dimitri carefully picked her up and trying to calm her hysterics as Christian joined him in the room, taking Katya. As he passed Dimitri the key, my scars and cuts were made obvious and I could hear the gasping around the courtroom. My nude body was on display for everyone to see and I was growing more and more uncomfortable. The camera zoomed in on my scars and the fresh cuts, especially the ones left behind by the metal cuffs. I could see that every inch of my skin was either bruised, scarred, cut up, or had welts, of course, I already knew that, but know the jury did too. The video ended with Dimitri picking me, trying to shield my nakedness with his body as he carried me out of the basement. The paramedics took me from him and the video merged back together, panning to show Adrian in front of the same house they originally went into, proving that it wasn't fact. The only problem was that due to the darkness, identification was hard.

The video ended and Dimitri sat back down beside me.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

"No," I said inaudibly as Zeklos called me up to the stand again. I took deep breaths as I walked up there and swore on the Bible once more.

"Now, Miss Hathaway," Zeklos paced into front of me. "Would you say that at any point in that video, you weren't sure of what was happening?"

"As I was watching it, or as it was filmed?"

"Watching it," he supplied.

"No, I could tell what was happening at all times," I answered.

"Really?" he mused. "And tell me, how could you tell that the man Mr. Ozera arrested was indeed Mr. Ivashkov?"

I paused trying to find the right wording and Zeklos plowed on. "Exactly; you can't!"

"But-."

"In fact, Miss Hathaway," he said. "I actually found it hard to see if the girl chained to that bed was indeed you, or if it was just another poor soul."

"It was me," I confirmed.

"Prove it, Miss Hathaway," Zeklos smirked. "Can you please show the jury your scars, since you would obviously have some if that was indeed you?"

I glared at him.

"Objection!" Dimitri bolted to his feet.

"Miss Hathaway," the judge intervenes. "Please show the jury the scars that you have on your arms. In privacy later, the other may be revealed."

I stand and come out of the witness box, facing the jury. I shrugged out of my blazer, revealing my marred and cut up arms. The jury gasps.

Zeklos directs me back into the witness box. "Miss Hathaway, if I'm not mistaken, those are self-harm scar right there, are they not?"

"They are," I concede. "Given what I've been through, is it really unexpected that I am a bit unstable and depressed?"

I saw a few member of the jury agreeing with me out of the corner of my eyes and Zeklos smirked directly at me, and only for me to see.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing towards my arm. I braced myself and nodded tersely. He lifted my arm and studied it. "These cuts are quite deep, correct?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Obviously, since you were able to do that to yourself, who is to say that you didn't scar your own body to launch a case against my client?" Zeklos questioned pacing in front of me.

"The video-."

"-was dark and unclear exactly who was in it," he finished my sentence. "I have no further questions your honor."


	12. Chapter 12

*****Huge thank you to fangirl4life, Padli angel, VAddiccted, VAvixin69, DemonsRelm, Guest, and hiseask17 for reviewing the last chapter. I know that it has been forever since I last updated this story, and I apologize for that. I have been distracted by college and work, but I'm on break from school currently, and I recently had knee surgery, so I am on break from work as well, so I'm going to try to squeeze in as many chapters as I can for all my stories. It is two in the morning when I am as I'm posting this, so therefore, it is not edited and I'm on painkillers, so some stuff may just not make any sense. If that happens, just leave me a review or shoot me a DM and I'll try to get it fixed as soon as possible. A/N- I went through today and fixed some of the mistakes that I saw, that's why it's been re-updated.**

To the guest reviewer: I'm sorry you didn't like the last chapter, I know not every chapter is enjoyable. This story is being told from Rose's point of view and she has been through quite some trauma. Due to this trauma, her version of reality is a bit twisted. She knows that Dimitri has been nothing but nice to her and Katya, but due to the trauma she's gone through, she sees everything as a threat. She knows that Dimitri is not Adrian by any stretch, but Adrian started off by being nice to her as well, and her traumatized brain is just linking the two together which is why she reacted the way she did. Everybody reacts differently to being raped and in Rose's case, her reaction is shunning the entire male population and even some of the female population because you never know who could be the 'monster'. Not everybody is as affect by it as Rose is, some aren't entirely affect the way Rose is, but it's just the way I have written her for this story. Sorry once again that you didn't like the last chapter, but this chapter you may like more as there is reconciling between the two and a couple of sweet spots.

**ATTENTION! IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!**

**PART OF THE THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH SELF-HARM WHICH CAN BE TRIGGERING TO SOME. I WILL MARK WHERE THE CONVERSATION STARTS AND WHERE IT ENDS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.**

* * *

Zeklos sat down with a barely contained smirk, and Adrian didn't even try to hide his.

"Would the prosecution like to cross examine?" the judge questioned and Dimitri immediately bolted to his feet. Christian grabbed his arm and stood gracefully, obviously in control of himself and his emotions. Dimitri sat back down with a scowl.

"Miss Hathaway," Christian started, approaching the witness box. "How long have you been self-harming?"

"Ever since I was found, so about three months," I answered him honestly.

"And how often do you self-harm?"

"Maybe once a week?"

"The cuts on your arms now, how old are they?" Christian questioned.

"I did it last night," I replied meekly.

"What did you use to make the cuts?"

"A small razor blade," I told him.

"Could you show the jury about how big you would say it is?"

I twisted my body slightly to face the jury more directly and held up my pointer fingers about an inch and a half apart.

"So an average sized razor blade, one that you would put in say a pocket knife?" Christian confirmed.

"Yes."

"After making these cuts, do you ever feel woozy or pass out?"

"I usually end up passing out, or I only make a handful of cuts because I get woozy. I know it sounds strange, but I get queasy around blood," I told him.

"Thank you, Miss Hathaway, you may return to your seat."

Relief coursed through me and I took my seat as fast as humanly possible.

Christian turns away from me to address the jury directly. "What Mr. Zeklos is proposing is that my client made the multitude of scars on her body simply to slander his client, all because she has a history of self-harming. However, it now is obvious that there is no way Miss Hathaway was the one to make the scars on her arms. The scars marking her wrists and ankles are by far too thick to have been done with a simple pocket knife blade, the only viable culprit to causing those scars are thick metal chains, such as those found at the crime scene.

"It is utterly ridiculous to propose the idea that Miss Hathaway strung herself up in chains for years simply to put someone in jail when there are far easier ways to do that. The scars that Miss Hathaway has are not scars that are made in one day. The markings on her wrists and ankles are there due to repeated trauma over the course of the last three years. The scars on her back, and on the back of her arms are places that would have near impossible for her to reach day after day to make the scars," Christian continues as Dimitri walks over to the television to hook something else up. "Please direct your attention once more to the screen."

Christian nodded at Dimitri as he sat.

"What you are about to see is extremely graphic material and we ask that anyone who does not wish to see this, leaves now," Dimitri started. When nobody moved, he pointed a small black remote at the television and it turned on showing a picture of my wrists. A slideshow started to play as Dimitri talked about each scar. My ankles were shown, before it moved to my bare back, showing the crisscross pattern there that I got the first and only time that I ever tried to escape. As Dimitri mentioned this, I saw Adrian ball his hands up out of the corner of my eye.

"From Miss Hathaway's testimony, we can verify that she was not the person to make these markings as anyone who had a queasiness of blood would not have been able to withstand all the blood that would result from these," Dimitri concluded his speech and took his seat as Christian stood once more.

"Included in the packets that you received this morning we the results to the rape kit that was done upon Miss Hathaway being admitted to the hospital, which shows that she was forced to have sexual intercourse more than once unwillingly. Also included are DNA tests down from scene of the crime. Our team swabbed the chains that Miss Hathaway was found in to confirm that the blood residue on them were indeed hers, as well as determining that the other DNA on the chains were indeed Mr. Ivashkov's," Christian said. The jury began to flip through said packets, looking at each thing as he mentioned it, and a few shared exchanges with each other.

"Thank you, Mr. Ozera. Does the prosecution have any other witnesses that they would like to call to the stand?"

"Yes, we would like to call Lyla Edwards to the stand," Christian said. The name didn't ring any bells in my head and a younger woman passed, taking a seat at the stand. She looked at me and I realized that she was the nurse who delivered Katerina.

"Please state your full name for the jury," Christian requested.

"Lyla Catherine Edwards," she responded, looking only at Christian.

"Mrs. Edwards, please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand," he tells her and she raises her hand. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"I do," she says.

"Mrs. Edwards, do you recognized the young lady sitting next to my partner at the prosecution table?"

"Yes."

"How do you know Miss Hathaway?"

"I delivered her daughter almost two years ago," Lyla answered.

"Can you confirm that this is the house you delivered her daughter at?" Christian asked, showing her a picture of Adrian's house.

"Yes, that is the house."

"And what did Miss Hathaway look like when you saw her?"

Lyla's eyes flickered to mine and I could see this pity and sadness in them. "She looked horrible. Her skin was pale and her hair was greasy. It was obvious that she hadn't showered in days as there was grime all over her body. She was very frail, very weak. Despite being so heavily pregnant, she was extremely malnourished, which led to her daughter being severely underweight. She had very little muscle on her body, which is an obvious sign of being on bed rest, which while not uncommon during pregnancies, the amount of muscle she had lost was too much for it to be simply bed rest for a couple of weeks."

"Was there anything else you noted?"

"I'm not sure how much it matters, but she wasn't on any prenatal vitamins, which I believe is a requirement in modern medicine," she added.

"Thank you, Mrs. Edwards," Christian said. "Just a few more questions. Do you recognize the man in chains sitting at the defense table?"

"I do," Lyla answered, her eyes barely even glancing over to him.

"How do you know him?"

"He was in the room when I delivered Miss Hathaway's daughter. He sat in the corner, just staring at Miss Hathaway. After I filled out the information for the certificate of live birth, Miss Hathaway tried to tell me something, but before she could, he was dragging me out of the room."

"What happened after that?" Christian asked her softly, making eye contact.

"There was another guy who led me outside and handed me a small bag, and told me that if I ever spoke of what happened inside, then I would be killed." Lyla whispered the last part.

"What was in the bag, Mrs. Edwards?"

"Ten thousand dollars," she said, her eyes locked on Christian's.

"Thank you Mrs. Edwards. I have no further questions," Christian told her. He shook her hand and leaned forward, whispering something to her quickly.

"Does the defense want to cross examine?"

Zeklos was out of his chair before the judge was even finished speaking. "Yes, Your Honor."

"Mrs. Edwards, what did you do with the money that my client supposedly paid you with?" Zeklos questioned, pacing in front of the stand.

"I took out the fee for my services and donated the rest to charity," she answered clearly.

"How much were your fees?"

"Around two thousand," she answered. "The other eight thousand went to charity."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

"I have my donation receipt, as well as Mr. Ivashkov's request for me to deliver Miss Hathaway's daughter," she said. "I gave them to Mr. Ozera and Mr. Belikov, and they made copies to put in the juries folders."

Zeklos' eyes flashed with an unnamed emotion and Christian and Dimitri shared a triumphant look.

"No further questions, Your Honor," Zeklos says, taking his seat.

"Mrs. Edwards, you are free to step down from the stand," the judge told Lyla and she stepped off the platform, and walked past our tables.

"Is there any more evidence to present or witnesses to testify?" the judged asked. Christian and Dimitri shared a brief look and Dimitri shook his head.

"There is neither more evidence nor more witnesses the prosecution would like to bring forward, Your Honor," Dimitri answered.

"Mr. Zeklos?"

"No, Your Honor."

"Jury, you are dismissed to talk amongst yourselves and reach a verdict. We with rejoin tomorrow at ten." The judge banged her gavel, releasing everybody.

Dimitri and Christian immediately escorted me out of the courtroom and my parents followed behind us. Out on the front steps, my mother handed a sleeping Katerina, who barely stirred as she switched into my arms.

"Rose, may I speak with you briefly?" Dimitri asked me softly.

"Maybe later," I responded quickly. "I want to get Katerina home and in her bed."

He nodded and murmured something to Christian before walking away.

"Rose, I'll see you in the morning, okay?" Christian says. "Get some sleep; we've got this in the bag."

I nodded, and smiled. "I'll try."

"Rose, your mother and I would like to take you out for a late lunch slash early dinner and it's time that you and Katya met Aiden," my dad says. "He's expressed interest in meeting you two."

I want to roll my eyes, but I suppress the notion. "Can we do it another time? I really want to Katerina home."

"Rosemarie, Aiden really wants to meet you, and I don't know how much longer I can stay here. Wo-"

"Work calls, right?" I snapped, cutting her off.

"Rose, watch your tone," my father warns.

"Watch my tone?" I exclaimed. I saw a few people glance over at me, and lowered my voice. "Yes, I want to meet my brother, the one you've been hiding from me, but my daughter comes first."

"Rosemarie, don't you dare turn your back on us," my mother scolds.

"I'm not a child anymore, Mom," I said. "I stopped being a child the night that I was taken, and if there was any childish aspects left, they were gone by the time Katerina was born. You're a mother, I would expect you to understand."

I left her staring after me, speechless. Halfway home, I hear Katerina stirring in the backseat and smile at her through the rearview mirror. "Do you want to go to the park, Kattie?"

"Yes, Momma," she giggled. "But me got nice clothes."

"We're going to stop at home and change first, okay, baby?"

"Otay, Momma." She went back to contently sucking on her thumb, watching the scenery as I drove.

"Kattie? Do you want to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa tonight?" I asked her softly. "And with Mommy's little brother?"

She nodded. "Momma, you has a brother?"

"Yes, baby. His name is Aiden, and he's your age," I told her.

"Otay, Momma," she told me as I pulled into the driveway.

"Do you want to go to dinner first or the playground first?" I asked her, turning around so that I was fully looking at her.

"Food," she answered.

"Okay, baby." I got her out of her car seat and she raced me to the front door. "You go get changed and I'll called Grandpa."

She raced up the stairs as I pulled out my phone.

"Rose," my dad answered. "Is something wrong?"

"Katerina woke up, if you guys are still up to go grab something to eat."

"We'll meet you at Steak 'n Shake in fifteen minutes?" he replied. I rolled my eyes and he chuckled, knowing that I did it. "It just happens to be Aiden's favorite restaurant too. You guys already have something in common."

"That's because Steak 'n Shake is fudging awesome," I answered.

He laughed. "Thank you, Rose."

"I'll see you soon."

"Mommy!" I was already up the stairs by the time Katya's voice reached me.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked her breathless.

"Me ready."

"Okay, baby," I said, picking her up. "Do you want to help mommy pick out something to wear?"

She started bouncing in my arms, which I took as a hell yes. I set her on the bed as I stripped out of the skirt, blazer and blouse. Holding up two pairs of jeans –one dark wash, the other light wash– I let her choose the light wash ones, with a scoop neck long sleeved grey shirt. I pulled my hair out of the French twist, letting it curl naturally around my shoulders.

"Where we go, Momma?"

"Steak 'n Shake."

She squealed and started bouncing in her seat. Her love for the place almost rivaled my own. When I pulled into the parking lot, my parents were already there, sitting outside, with a little red-haired boy sitting between them. As soon as I got Katya out of the car and on the ground, she was racing towards my parents. Luckily, no cars pulled in or out in the time it took her to get all the way across the parking lot.

"Katerina Lily Hathaway," I scolded her when I got close enough. "You could have gotten hit by a car. Next time, you need to either wait for me or at least look both ways before crossing like that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Momma. I sorry," she whispered, her bottom lip sticking out. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. "I still get shake?"

"Yes, baby, you can still have a shake. You just need to be a little more careful, okay?" I whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"Otay, Momma."

My parents stood up, Aiden in my father's arms.

"Very nice job, Rose," my mother whispered as we walked into the lobby. I forced a smile.

"Party of five," we told the hostess and she disappeared for a couple of minutes before returning and leading us to a table with two highchairs taking the place of two chairs. Both highchairs were in between two chairs on opposite side of the table and my dad put Aiden between him and my mother, while Katerina got the one on the other side of the table, next to me.

"Rose, this is your brother Aiden," my mother said. I smiled at Aiden and he looked down shyly, glancing at us every so often. Katerina stared at him and giggled.

"Katya, baby, this is your uncle," I told her. She waved and giggled again. Aiden smiled and waved back at her. My mom leaned over and whispered a couple of words in his ear and he laughed. I faked another smile as the waitress came over. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

By the time I got home that night, I was exhausted. Katerina fell asleep in the car on the way home and I woke her up briefly to get her to change into her pajamas and to brush her teeth before letting her fall back asleep.

Shortly after I put her back to bed, I was crawling into bed, thinking that I might actually get some sleep tonight. Just as I closed my eyes, a light knock sounded on the front door and I hurried back down the stairs to get it before it woke Katya. Lissa was spending the night at Christian's again or else I would have let her get it.

Dimitri was standing in the doorway. He noticed my pajamas and rubbed the back of his neck. "Is now a bad time?"

I sighed and stepped to the side. "Now is fine."

I led him over to the couch and plopped down, crossing my legs underneath me.

"Were you asleep?" he asked sheepishly.

"No, not yet," I answered honestly, yawing slightly.

"I wanted to stop by and say sorry again for yesterday. I was way out of line and I shouldn't have kissed you without asking you," he murmured.

"I was out of line as well," I told him. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I put you and Adrian in the same category in my head and that wasn't fair to you and because the two of you are nothing alike."

"It's okay, Rose. I made a mistake, and I knew how you would react to that, yet I did it anyway. For that, I am sorry." He meets my eyes before adding, "I never meant to scare you, I want you to know that."

"I know that now," I whispered. "I read your text messages."

Silence stretched between us as I thought about his messages. _The mission was about saving you, Rose. It wasn't about Adrian anymore than it was about getting you away from him_. "Did you mean what you said?"

He nodded. "I will admit that at first it was about capturing Adrian. That's why Christian and I befriended him in the first place. And then I met you at the bar and the entire thing was shot all to hell. I-I felt this instant spark, this instant connection, to you that I hadn't felt with anyone else, and when you disappeared, I freaked out. I had this gut feeling that it was Adrian, but I had no way to prove that. He dropped off the face of the planet after you disappeared, shooting us a text every now and then saying that he was in Turkey or India doing business, and he always gave us proof that he was where he said he was.

"Nobody else disappeared and then we actually saw him again, in England and we crossed him off our list because there would have been no way that he would have been able to get into another country because we immediately put out an Amber Alert once we realized that you were missing and he somehow had proof of dropping you off at your apartment," Dimitri whispered. "Finding out that it actually was him… God, I felt so stupid. You were right there, and I hated myself because if I had just paid a bit more attention, I could have gotten you out of there."

"It's not your fault, Dimitri," I whispered, shaking off the sleepiness that his deep voice induced.

"It's not yours either, Rose. I want to make sure that you know that," he told me. "The blame rest solely on Adrian. He took advantage of you when he shouldn't have, and he's to blame."

"Do you think that he might get a 'not guilty' verdict?" I questioned.

"I don't so," Dimitri mused. "There is a lot of evidence against him. Finding the midwife had been a stroke of luck. I think she really tipped the scales in our favor."

I nodded and yawned again. Dimitri started to reach out and then stopped himself, realizing what he was doing.

******START OF CONVERSTAION******

"May I see your arms?" he asked softly.

I studied him for a second before lowering my arms so he could see them. His hand hovered over my arm, questioning.

"Yes," I whispered. Ever so softly, he ran his fingers over the flayed skin, trying to avoid the deeper parts of the cuts.

"Talk to me, Roza. What possessed you to do this? Do you like it?"

"Trying to describe depression and why is nearly impossible. It's not a straightforward response, it's like trying to describe and understand the blackness, the weariness, the hopelessness, the loneliness," I murmured, pulling my knees up close to my body.

"Can you try for me? Please?"

I took a deep breath. "I-it just sort of happened. I know that not what you wanted to hear, but I was thinking too much and next thing I knew, it was four thirty and my arms were bleeding and stinging. I regretted doing it, because my body is already ugly enough without me adding more scars, but the more I thought about my body the more I wanted to pick up my blade and cut some more, but I was already so woozy," I whispered. "I don't know exactly when I started, but I hate myself so much that I just want to let it all out, and it's almost as if cutting is the way to do that. I know that it will probably make me insane by saying this, but I like the pain. It helps distracts me from everything else that is going on and I love it. I've tried to stop before, and I miss the pain. I don't miss the bleeding or the regret that comes afterwards, but I love the pain. It's almost like it is my high. We are all addicted to something that takes the pain away; some people have marijuana, I have a blade that slices my skin open.

"I hide it and hide it and hide it until it all builds up and explodes and the deeper I cut, the higher I fly and the better I feel. All day long, my depression is yelling at me, telling me that I'm terrible, making me replay every damn mistake I've made, every humiliation. It controls me. I hate it and I love it. I hate the way that I feel so confused, so broken, so useless, like I'm not good enough, that I'm falling apart, that I'm pathetic, annoying, rejected, defeated. The list goes on and one. It's so fucking tiring, because I'm tired of bitched at, tired of being the butt of everybody's jokes, tired of feeling ugly, of being ignored. Tired of feeling unloved, of not being cared about, but most of all, I'm tired of pretending to be happy in front of those I care about because I know that if they see the real me, they would leave in an instant. It's a disease, but not really, because when someone says they have depression, there is not scurrying around to find a cure, because there is no proof but the word of someone."

"I care, Roza," Dimitri whispered, still rubbing his fingers over my cuts soothingly. "Did you feel any of this before you were taken?"

"A little bit, but not enough to actually take a blade to my skin."

"What caused you feeling like that before?" Dimitri questioned softly. His brown eyes flicked up to mine. "Will you tell me if I cross any lines?"

I nodded. "My mom and I, we don't get along very well, and my dad usually always take her side, even though sometimes, she's in the wrong."

"I could tell that your relationship with your mom was strained earlier. What happened after you got back?" he asked softly.

"She visited me in the hospital for about an hour, and I thought everything was going to get better, things were going to be okay between us. The pain medicine made me pass out and when I woke up, she wasn't there. I figured that she went back to the hotel or went to get food or something and when my dad came in about forty minutes after that, I asked him where she was, if she was at the hotel. He told me that she didn't get a hotel, because she knew that she would have to go back to work shortly. She lives and works in New York," I said, looking down. "That was the last time I saw her before today. My dad has been flying in from New York a few times a month to check in on me and Katerina and each time, he says that she's trying to get a day or two off work to come and see me, and that she wishes I would call. But the thing is, I did call. Every day for three weeks straight, and when she didn't once answer nor return a call, I stopped trying."

"Roza, I'm so sorry," he whispers. "I wish things were different for you."

"Yesterday, I snapped and said some things about my mom that I shouldn't have, and said something along the lines of "I'm her only child, you would think she would pay more attention to me", because from what I heard, I wasn't an easy birth. My dad then decided that it was an appropriate time to tell me that I'm not actually an only child, that they have a son who is Katya's age." I rubbed my fists over my eyes. "I've been back three months and he is just now telling me this. He said it was because Aiden wasn't ready to go from being an only child to having an older sister and a niece."

"Regardless, they should have told you," Dimitri says, his fingers no longer rubbing across my cuts, instead, his hands are holding mine.

"We got into a fight outside the courthouse because they said it that Aiden was ready to meet us, which I call bullshit on, because one- it's been a day, and two- he's two. There's no way he completely understood what they told him and about Katya and me. They wanted to go to lunch so we could meet him, but Katya was sleeping and she _is_ my daughter, which meant that I knew if I woke her up, she would be cranky and I didn't feel like dealing with a cranky toddler. So we got into a fight over that because I was choosing my daughter over my parents and brother," I explained.

"On the way home, Katerina woke up, so I asked her if she wanted to go get dinner with grandma and grandpa, and she said yes. I called them and we agreed to meet at Steak 'n Shake for the early dinner. And everything went downhill from there. Katerina wanted a shake with her meal, and she's been good over the past few days, given the trial and everything so I told her that she could and my mom disagreed with me, saying that I shouldn't be letting her have that much sugar this late at night. It was four. I ignored her and let Katya have a shake and then Aiden started pouting and complaining that he wanted a shake as well, and she didn't want to get him a shake.

"When we ordered, she disapproved of what I allowed Katerina to get, but couldn't say anything about it because my dad intervened when Aiden decided to get the same thing and she tried to tell him no, because it wasn't very healthy. But, like I said, Abe intervened and allowed him to get it. When it was my turn to order, I ordered a small salad and she freaked out on me because there wasn't very many calories in it, and then told the waitress that I wanted the fried chicken salad and when I tried to tell her that I didn't want the fried chicken salad because that's bad, the best I could was get the grilled chicken salad. But the point is I didn't want chicken at all," I finished, before realized that I had started rambling. "Sorry for rambling."

Dimitri chuckled. "It's okay. How many calories were in the salad that you wanted to order?"

I looked away. "I don't know."

"Roza, I'm an agent. I can tell when people are lying."

"There were forty-five," I murmured.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," he scolded. "That is a snack, not a meal. How much was the salad that you actually ate?"

"270."

"That's better, but still not enough," he scolded me. "You need to be eating more than that. Promise me that you will start eating more?"

"Okay," I agree after a long moment of silence, with no actual intention to keep the promise.

"What happened after that?" he asked me.

"We continued to argue for the rest of the night and I said quite a few things that I probably shouldn't have said, simply because Katerina and Aiden were there," I told him, looking away.

"What did you say to her?" he asked softly, tilting my chin up so that I was looking at him.

"I called her a bitch, told her that I wasn't a child and that she needed to stop treating me like one. We got into an argument about that because she kept trying to tell Katerina different things than what I was telling her, which was undermining my authority and when I mentioned it and told her to fucking stop it, she snapped back at me that I was undermining her authority by allowing Katerina to do things that Aiden wasn't. She wasn't understanding that what she lets Aiden do had nothing to do with what I let Katerina do, because she is not the mother of both of them, but she wouldn't fucking understand that their relation didn't make them brother and sister. We got into another argument about the bill when I tried to cover it and just pay for it myself, which I didn't mind and she basically sneer at me and looked down at me because I don't have a job, in fact, I never even graduated high school, so why should I be covering the bill, when it would be with the money that my father put into my account each month.

"I stormed out of the restaurant after that, and she got pissed about that and came storming out after me, shouting about that's not how a child treats her mother, and we got into yet another argument about her continually referring to me as child. I-I brought up A-Adr," I coughed, unable to say it. "I brought up _him_ and told her right back that I stopped being a child when he chained me to his fucking bed and raped me until my voice was hoarse and I was dehydrated from crying and begging him to stop. I said that every night when he would do that, the child in me left and it never came back after a while. When the scars I bare today formed, the child in me was gone for good and she should damn well remember it because I can't forget it." I whispered the last part, shame in what I said creeping up. I could feel my eyes start to water as I imagined the disgusted look in Dimitri's eyes.

"Did what happened with your mom make you want to hurt yourself?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Did you?" Dimitri asked, looking down at my wrists for any signs of new cuts, running his finger over the existing cuts looking for any new ones.

"No," I answered. "I wanted to, but I didn't."

I didn't tell him that I took a washcloth and rubbed my cuts raw, just to feel a smidgeon of the pain.

"Roza, these cuts are pretty raw, are you sure none of them are fresh?" he asked, almost as if he could read my mind.

"I wasn't lying earlier when I told the jury that I only cut about once a week. In the days between the actual cuttings, I use a washcloth to rub the cuts raw, to feel the pain without actually having to cut again," I whispered.

"Oh, Roza," Dimitri sighed. "When I saw the cuts, my first thought was that I didn't want to leave you alone. I don't want to wake up one day and hear on the news that a little girl is left motherless because said mother couldn't take the pain anymore."

"It's not going to get that far," I defended myself.

"So you've never had thoughts about jumping off the roof or your bedroom window?" Dimitri whispered. I looked away again. A few seconds later, Dimitri added, "Will you let me help?"

I scoffed without entirely meaning to. "How could you help me?"

His eyes hardened ever so slightly and he slid his shirt sleeve up. Just above his elbow, a handful of thin white lines sat.

"W-what happened?"

"My father was an awful man, Roza," he told me softly. "His relationship with my mother wasn't a good one, it wasn't a healthy one. My sisters and I, we all knew it, but we couldn't do anything about it. We heard her screams whenever he was home, and we couldn't help her. _I _couldn't help her. And I hated myself for it. Those scars mark a transition in me. It got pretty bad, Roza, like considering suicide bad. He hated me, because I was his only son, and praise the Lord, I look more like my mother than like him. My mentality about it was that maybe if I was gone, it wouldn't be so bad for her, maybe he would ease up. My older sister, Karolina, walking in on my attempt and she freaked out, screaming. I was thirteen at the time, and my father was there. He came running when she screamed, because only _he _was allowed to beat us up, and when he found out what I tried to do, he was do pissed, because that's what _weak _people do. He started to beat me, and then I was beating him back, and I was winning. I don't know how, but I beat him up more than he had ever beat any of us and after that he never came back."

******END OF CONVERSATION******

"I'm so sorry," I whispered around my yawn. As I yawned again, he chuckled. "That was so rude, I'm so sorry."

"No, no it's okay. I interrupted your bedtime," Dimitri chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Roza."

I stood up to show him out, and nearly collapsed, stumbling forward before Dimitri caught me. "Whoa, can I walk you upstairs so you don't fall?"

I nodded and started stumbling toward the stairs. Dimitri reached down and swung me up into a bridal carry and stared at me, questioning if this was okay. I nodded and he walked be up the stairs, and into my bedroom. Shifting my weight, he peeled back the covers on one side of the bed, and slides me underneath them.

"Goodnight, Roza," he whispered. As he turned to leave, I made a split second decision and found myself calling out his name.

"W-will you stay, and just talk to me? Your voice is very calming, and I think it might help me sleep and I haven't been able to sleep lately and I really need to sleep. I'm so tired," I whispered. Dimitri stared at me for half a second and rejection slammed into me full force. "God, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking-"

"Roza, shush," he whispered, sliding his shoes off, and sitting on the edge of the massive bed. "Do you really want me to stay?"

"Only if you want to," I whispered, rolling over to face him.

He nodded, and turned on his side so that he was facing me, and I could just barely see his brown eyes through the moonlight spilling in from the window.

"What do you want me to talk about?" he whispered.

"I don't care," I whispered back. "You can talk in Russian if you want."

He laughed softly, but nodded, before he started murmuring in Russian. It didn't take long before I was drifting off to the sound of his voice and for the first time in three months, I didn't have a single bad dream.

* * *

I jolted away by my alarm blaring and realized that I was surrounded by massive warmth. I sighed and moved to snuggle into the warmth, trying to put off getting up for a few more minutes when instead of hitting empty space, I hit a hard body, pressed up against mine. Before I could help myself, I shrieked and the body behind me immediately jumped up, reaching into his waistband for gun.

Squinting through the sunlight, I realized that the person in the bed with me was Dimitri and I almost shrieked again before I remembered that I had asked him to talk me to sleep last night.

"Roza, are you okay?" he asked blearily.

I nodded. "Sorry for shrieking."

"I'm sorry for that," he gestured towards the bed. "I didn't even realize that I had drifted in my sleep, I usually don't."

I gulped. "Can we not talk about?"

"Rose,"

"Please? Let's just forget it happened, okay?" I climbed out of the bed fully, and rummaged through my closet, choosing a simple zippered pale pink knee-length dress for today, as well as a pair of white flats, and a pair of underwear before scurrying from the bedroom and into the bathroom.

By the time I had finished getting ready, Dimitri was out of the bedroom, and I snagged a white cardigan to pull on to hide my cuts, and went to Katerina ready.

"It's the last day, okay, baby? I promise," I whispered. She nodded sleepily as I got her changed into another blouse and skirt with matching strap on sandals.

"Momma, no hair," she murmured through a yawn and I smiled, spraying it down slightly just to tame it.

"Okay, baby, we'll both leave our hair down today," I told me, smiling. She giggled and I carried her downstairs. "Do you want some cereal or-"

I turned the corner to the kitchen and saw Dimitri standing by the stove, with a pan of scrambled eggs in it and two plates, both with toast on them, next to him.

"I hope this is okay. I was finished getting ready early and I figured that you might need some help with breakfast," he murmured.

"Thank you, Dimitri," I answered, blushing.

"Mank you, Dimi," Katya copied me, and Dimitri laughed.

"You're very welcome," he said, putting the eggs onto the plates as I strapped her into her booster seat. Dimitri walked over and placed a plate with eggs, two slices of toast, and two strips of bacon on it in front of her and handed me a plate with a scoop of eggs, a slice of toast and one strip of bacon.

"I know that you haven't been eating much lately, so your stomach has probably shrunken a great deal. Can you try to eat most of that for me?"

I nodded, not wanting to displease him after everything he's done for me.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think that you are perfectly skinny, actually a little bit too skinny, if I'm being truly honest. I know that you see leftover baby fat when you look in the mirror, but it's really not there. Trust me. I honestly don't believe that you even had that much to begin with due to your conditions, and even if you did, it's all gone now," he told me. I smiled. Now he was the one rambling. While he was talking, I had started eating and when I looked down, I saw that I only had a few bites of egg left, just enough to finish my toast. The bacon was untouched.

"You aren't going to eat your bacon, Roza?" Dimitri questioned.

"Momma no like it," Katerina filled in for me. Dimitri arched his eyebrow.

"I'm not a huge fan of bacon," I supplied. "I never have been."

Dimitri nodded, and looked as though he was filing this note away for later. "Are you two ready?"

Katerina nodded and I lifted her out of the booster and we both ran up the stairs to brush out teeth together.

Dimitri followed me in his car to the courthouse and we met Christian on the steps. I spotted my father as we walked in, but surprise, surprise, no sign of my mother. Dimitri noticed and briefly squeezed my hand. He glanced over at me, to make sure that was okay, and I mouth "thank you."

He smiled and nodded as the judge entered, followed by the jury and we all sat. Today, I refused to look over to the defense table, despite the fact that I could feel Adrian staring at me. Dimitri squeezed my thigh under the table and this time, I didn't flinch.

"Jury, have you reached a verdict?" the judge asked and I held my breath.

"Yes, your Honor, we have," one of the female jurors stood up. "We, the jury, have found Adrian Ivashkov to be guilty when facing 1,095 charges of sexual assault, 548 charges of domestic abuse, and one charge of kidnapping with the intent of rape. We hereby sentence Adrian Ivashkov to 138 life sentences to be spent in prison without parole opportunity, as well as two hundred dollars paid to Miss Hathaway for each domestic abuse charge. We also propose a court order for back child support as well as for future child support of two thousand dollars a month, for a grand total of 432,000 over the next sixteen years."

The judge considered it for a brief moment. "Verdict accepted. Mr. Ivashkov, you will be held at the state prison, and a monthly transfer will be made from your account to Miss Hathaway's starting with a 48,000 dollar transfer starting today. The payments for the domestic abuse will also be taken out monthly."

By the time the judge banged her gavel, dismissing everybody, tears were streaming down my cheeks and Katerina was looking at me concerned. I watched as the bailiffs surrounds Adrian to cart him off to the prison and I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face as relief coursed through me.

"He's never, ever going to be able to hurt you ever again, Roza," Dimitri exclaimed pulling me into a hug that I didn't flinched out of.

"Momma, why you cry?"

"They're happy tears, Katya, happy tears, baby," I whispered.

_We're safe_.

*****We finally got the verdict! For the sentencing and all of that, I did some Googling to get it as close as I could to what I believe it would be due to what I know about the laws, if I'm incorrect in any of my math or the actual sentencing, leave a review or DM letting me so I can fix it.*****


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you to Do'B, stardreamer2608, emmaleewhittaker, SPARKELS77, Guest, hiseask17, and luciinwaters for reviewing the last chapter. This chapter is semi-edited, but probably still contains a ton of mistakes. Hopefully the read is still enjoyable though! -skd**

_We're safe._

"Happy tears?" Katerina questioned, one hand on each of my cheeks.

"Yes, baby, happy tears."

"Otay, Momma. No more cry?" she questioned me, her hazel eyes wide as she stared at me.

"No more cry," I confirmed, kissing the top of her head.

_We're safe_.

I hugged Katerina to me tightly as joy filled me even more. Adrian was never going to be able to hurt me again. Was never going to be able to hurt us again. He was locked away for good, and he wasn't going to get out. A small laugh escaped me as I grinned wider. Maybe now I could get some sleep without fearing that I was going to wake up back in his basement.

_We're safe._

"Rose!"

I turned when I heard my name being shouted, and saw Lissa standing just behind the half-wall that separated the audience from the rest of the courtroom. She was grinning broadly, and her eyes looked suspiciously wet.

"Autie Wissa!" Katerina shouted over the chatter that filled the courtroom, squirming in my arms. I laughed again and carried her the short distance to where Lissa was standing. As soon as she was in reaching distance, Katerina started to try to jump out of my arms and into Lissa's. Lissa held her arms out, and I passed her off. With her free arm, Lissa reached over to pull me into a tight hug.

"I'm so happy, Rose," she whispered in my ear. "You didn't deserve what happened, and now the nightmare is over."

I nodded as I hugged her back tightly. Knowing that Adrian wasn't going to get away with what he did made me feel like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Katya started to babble to about something and as Lissa listened attentively, I turned back to where Dimitri and Christian were standing with grins on their faces.

"How are you feeling, Rose?" Christian asked me softly.

"I'm feeling good. Really good," I told him, smiling shyly. "I can rest easier knowing that it's over."

"That you can. He's never going to hurt you again, Roza," Dimitri chimed in.

I grinned broadly at that. "He's never going to hurt me again."

Dimitri smiled as I repeated it again. "Roza-"

"Momma!"

I shot Dimitri and apologetic look and turned back to where Lissa and Katya were. "What's up, baby?"

"We go to pwaygrond?" She questioned, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.

"We can go to the playground," I confirmed. Katya grinned and started bouncing in Lissa's arms, making Lissa smile.

"Mank you, Momma," Katerina said before turning back to Lissa. "You come too?"

"Yes, Kattie," Lissa agreed. "I'll come with you. But first, I'm taking you two out to lunch. Is there anywhere particular that you want to go?"

The last question was directed at me. "Applebee's?"

"Applebee's it is," Lissa confirmed. "Is it okay if Christian comes too?"

"Of course," I told her. She grinned. Katya reached back out for me and I took her back into my arms, holding her close once more.

_We're safe_.

"Dimi!" Katerina shouted. "You come to food?"

Dimitri looked up at me. "I think you need to ask your mother."

Katerina turned her pleading eyes on me, and I smiled.

"I don't see why not. Christian's coming too," I answer and Katerina grinned again.

I looked up and saw Dimitri staring at me, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Dimi?" Katya prodded.

"Of course, Katya," he answered. "I would be honored to join you for lunch."

Dimitri and I shared a smiled over Katerina's head, and warmth spread through me.

At lunch, Katerina sat in a high chair between Dimitri and me, with Lissa and Christian across from us. Katerina kept tugging on the sleeve of Dimitri's shirt, his suit jacket having been discarded over the back of the chair, requesting that he play the games on the coloring sheet with her. He entertained her every whim, letting her win at Tic Tac Toe and at Dots and Boxes.

"Katya, what do you want to eat?" I leaned over, questioning her.

She paused in her game, and flipped her kid's menu over to reveal the food choices. I read them off to her, pointing out each one and she thought for a moment before circling and underlining the chicken tenders.

"With fries?"

She nodded her head rapidly before turning back to play with Dimitri. When the waitress came by to take our orders, Katya looked up again as she reached our side of the table.

"She wants the kid's chicken tenders with fries," I told the waitress and Katya leaned forward to take a sip of her chocolate milk.

"And for you, miss?"

"I'll take the oriental chicken salad," I answered, ignoring the look that Dimitri sent my way. The waitress scribbled it down on her pad of paper before scurrying off. Dimitri continued to play with Katya until he noticed that Lissa and Christian were in their own conversation and he looked up at me, arching an eyebrow.

"440," I hissed over Katerina's head.

"Roza," he whispered. Before he could say anything else, Katya tugged on his sleeve again. It was his turn in whichever game they were playing.

"Rose," Lissa murmured from across the table. "I'm going to go run to the bathroom real fast."

"Now that I think about it, I have to go too. I'll come with." I leaned over Katerina to check if her diaper was wet. It wasn't and I turned to Dimitri as I placed my napkin on the table. "Will you watch Kattie?"

"Of course, Roza," he murmured before Katya took his attention away again. I followed Lissa back to the bathroom and leaned against the counter as she paced in front of me.

"What's up, Liss?" I asked softly.

"Did I ever tell you how Christian and I started dating?"

"No, I don't believe so," I murmured, watching her continue to pace.

"I did it to get information about your case," she whispered. "About four months after you disappeared, I started seeing Christian on a regular basis, and I started sleeping with him. I was so desperate for information regarding your case that I was practically willing to do anything. If I would have never left with Christian that night, maybe you wouldn't have been taken, and maybe I could have saved you from all of this, and being in the dark, alone with my guilt, I couldn't handle it."

"Does Christian know?" I asked tentatively.

She nodded. "He was furious when he found out. And I had actually started to really like him at that point. It was no longer completely about getting information about you. He found out roughly three months after we started sleeping together, so about seven months after you disappeared. He caught me going through his case files and when I tried to distract him with sex, he connected the dots. He refused to see me after that. It took almost a year to convince him to give me a second chance, and after that, we were always at my place. He didn't trust me to not try to go through his case files again. He knew how much I cared about you, though, and told me that he and Dimitri had a lead as to where you were. He told me not to get my hopes up, but how could I not? You're my best friend, and it was hell being without you. But it was also hell having Christian so pissed at me. He wouldn't even look at me whenever I had to make statements for the FBI. It was awf-"

"Lissa, you're rambling," I interrupted her.

"Christian asked me to move in with him," she blurted.

"Oh." After I moment, I added, "That's great, Lissa."

"You don't think so," she whispered.

"It's new to me," I insisted. "I think it's wonderful. If you're really serious about being with him, I don't see why not."

"Rose, I just got you back," she murmured. "I don't want you to think that I'm abandoning you."

"Liss, I don't think that you're abandoning me, I promise. It's not like I just got back and you're leaving."

"You'll be alone," Lissa added.

"I have Katerina, and we're safe now," I told her. "He can't hurt us anymore."

"Rose-"

"Do you want to move in with him?" I interrupted her.

She bit her lip and nodded.

"Then say yes," I urged her. "Don't choose what will make me happy. Choose what is going to make you happy, and remember that you will always have a place with me and Katya."

She hugged me. "Thank you, Rose."

When we got back to the table, I saw that Katya had wrapped both Dimitri and Christian around her tiny finger. Christian had switched seats so that he was directly across from Katya and was taking turns playing the games on her coloring sheet.

Lissa smiled, and took the seat that Christian was originally sitting in as I sat back down next to Katerina. Dimitri glanced over at me, shooting me an inquisitorial look that I pretended I didn't see. When our food came, I pretend that I didn't feel Dimitri's eyes burning into the side of my head as I took small bites, mostly pushing the salad around.

Katerina ate all of her food, making a happy plate, and turned to stare at me with begging eyes. I smiled, and allowed her to choose a dessert off the menu.

In between Katerina receiving her brownie and scoop of ice cream, I finished the rest of my salad under Dimitri's constant scrutiny. Katya turned to me to offer a bite of her dessert and I felt Dimitri's glare burning into the side of my head. I accepted her bite, causing the glare to weaken slightly. When Katya declared herself finished, I reached for my credit card but Lissa beat me to it, already signing the check as I pulled my card out of my purse.

"I'll leave a tip," I told her, glaring slightly.

"I put one on the card," she said, taking a sip of her water. "I said I was treating you to lunch, Rose. You should have known that that meant I wouldn't let you pay for any of it."

"Lissa, you can't pay for everything," I argued.

"I'm not trying to," she said calmly. "Can we talk about this later?"

Her eyes shifted slightly to the left where both Dimitri and Christian were hunched over Katerina's paper, obviously trying not to listen in, but failing at the same time.

"Later."

Christian and Lissa were the first to depart, leaving Dimitri and I alone at the table, with Katya between us.

"Roza, may I take you out to dinner tonight? There are a couple of things that I would like to discuss with you."

"I don't have anyone to watch Katya and-"

"I'm sure that Lissa would be more than happy to watch Katerina," Dimitri interrupted. "Please, Roza? One small dinner."

I bit my lip as I considered. _It's not like it's a date. _"Okay."

_It's not a date_.

Dimitri grinned brightly. It took me a few seconds before I found myself smiling back.

"Rosemarie Hathaway, I swear to God that if you do not let me help you," Lissa left her threat unfinished as I groaned.

"Liss, none of your clothes are going to fit me." I flopped back down on her bed and covered my eyes with my arm. "We both know that you're 5000 times skinner than me."

"Get up, Rose," Lissa ordered, tossing two things at me. "I will force you to put those on if you won't."

"Lissa, these will not fit me. The shirt is a small for God's sake. And the skirt is even tinier." I moved to toss them back to her and she stopped me.

"Then humor me."

"Only to prove you wrong," I glared. Grabbing the skirt and shirt off the bed, I walked down the hall to the bathroom, changing quickly. I didn't keep it on for long, glanced once in the mirror, before changing back into my clothes.

"Told you it wouldn't fit," I threw them back at Lissa.

"No. Stay here, and try them on again. Let me see," Lissa demanded. "Rose, please."

Knowing that Lissa was serious about forcing me to try the clothes on, I stripped out of my own clothes again. Lissa turned away as I changed, knowing that I was uncomfortable showing her my scars.

"Okay."

"I knew it!" Lissa cajoled, turning back around. She stepped around me to fix the midi skirt slightly, making it brush slightly against my shins. She examined a possible way to make it tighter as it was just barely staying up. The skirt was mint green, and had a floral pattern on it, and the top was a white tank crop top, with a collar that went up to my neck. The top was slightly better, as it was loose and flowy, even though the hem of it cut up a bit, showing a bit of my stomach. White heels sat outside the closet for me.

"Rose, you look great," Lissa murmured. "But if you're not comfortable wearing that, if it's showing too much skin, you can change. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

I glanced back at the mirror. The skirt was loose and long, and the top left much to the imagination, despite the sliver of my abdomen that was playing peek-a-boo.

"It's okay."

"Okay, Katerina is out for the count, I think. She was pretty tired after the park," I repeated again for the umpteenth time. Dimitri stood patiently by the door, ten minutes having gone by since he got here, and Lissa sighed.

"Rose, I know how to take care of Katya. I know all her favorite food, and I know what keeps her calm. We'll be fine," Lissa informed me. "Now go."

Lissa glared at me and pursed her lips as I continued to stand there.

"Okay, okay," I raised my hands in mock surrender. "I'm going. Call me if you need anything. Anything at all."

Lissa rolled her eyes at me again as Dimitri opened the door for me, and led me to his car, a newer BMW convertible, opening the door there as well. He waited until I was settled into the seat before shutting the door. He walked in front of the car to reach the driver's side and put the convertible top up as he started the car.

"Thank you for agreeing to dinner, Roza," he murmured as he backed out of the driveway. He glanced over at me again. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I murmured. I glanced down at my outfit again, studying the floral pattern intently. My hair, curly from the braid Lissa pulled out earlier, brushed my chest, and I tucked it behind my ear. "Where are we going?"

"Maggiano's," he answered softly after a minute.

"I can't let you pay for that," I insisted. "It too expensive."

"Roza, no. I asked you to dinner. I don't mind paying," he answered, looking over at me again. His tone indicated that he would not be changing his mind.

"Next time, I pay."

The words left my mouth before my filter could catch them, and Dimitri didn't say anything, but when I looked over, the corners of his mouth were tugged up a bit.

The restaurant was full when we arrived and Dimitri stepped forward to give his name to the hostess. Almost immediately, we were led to a two-person table in the middle of the restaurant.

"I figured that you would prefer something more in the middle of everything," he murmured as a way of explanation.

"Thank you."

He pulled out my chair like a gentleman, before settling into his own chair. A waiter appeared, his notepad at the ready. We both ordered water, and when questioned about appetizers, Dimitri ordered bruschetta.

"Roza," he murmured as the waiter walked away. "Do you know what you want?"

I glanced over the menu placed in front of me, my eyes immediately jumping to the salads. "The Italian tossed salad."

Dimitri sighed and looked up me. "One of the things that I wanted to talk to you about is your eating habits. I know that I mentioned it last night, but I also know that you lied to me when you said you would try to do better."

"I did not," I attempted to say.

Dimitri shot me a look. "We already had this discussion. I'm an FBI agent; I'm pretty good at figuring out when someone is telling me the truth, and when they are lying."

"Dimitri."

"Rose, look, I care about you, and whether or not the feeling is mutual, I don't want to see you wasting away like this. I know that you don't see yourself this way, but I need you to trust me when I say that it's not good. You're way too thin, and I'm sure that I could count your ribs," he murmured. Neither of us said anything as the waiter placed the bruschetta on our table. "Please try for real."

"Dimitri, I can't," I whispered. "I can't do it. Every time that I look in a mirror, all I see is fat. I know that that is what I really look like, and I can't stand it."

"You don't look like that; you are the furthest thing from fat." He studied me silently for a moment before adding, "Those are Lissa's clothes, are they not?"

"Why?"

"Because you and I both know that Lissa has a slim body type, and if you're wearing her clothes, then doesn't that tell you something?" he pressed, snagging a piece of bruschetta.

"It's a fluke," I whispered as he stared at me. He gestured to the plate, and I tentatively took a piece. It was warm and buttery against my tongue, and surely full of billions of calories.

"It's not," he reasoned. "Promise me for real that you will at least try to eat more. Even if it's just a hundred or so more calories a day. Getting to where you are is not an overnight thing, and neither is getting back into a healthy state."

I glared, and he glared right back.

"Fine," I relented. "I will _try_. No promises."

"That's all I'm asking. There's nothing wrong with eating a salad, Roza. It's when you try to pass a minuscule side salad off as a meal that a problem arises," he says.

"Are you ready to order?" The waiter stopped by the table again on his rounds, and Dimitri glanced at me.

"I'll have the Italian tossed salad, with no dressing, please," I said, ignoring Dimitri's sigh.

"For you, sir?"

"The Chicken Marsala with the red skin potatoes, please."

"Certainly."

"Two salads in one day?" he questions with an arched brow as the waiter walked away.

"And more calories than I've had in a while," I retorted, sipping my water. "What else did you want to talk about?"

"Have another piece of bruschetta."

"Dimitri."

"Please? One more slice?" he bargained. "And then I'll answer any questions."

I acquiesced, taking the smallest piece left on the plate. Dimitri took the last piece, and looked up at me expectantly.

"What else is on your list to talk about?"

He took a deep breath and leaned forward. "I wanted to talk to about your mental health."

"Excuse me?"

"You and I both know that you are not in the best mental state. I'm actually surprised that the court didn't order any mandated therapy sessions, especially after finding out your self-harming," he mused, seemingly more to himself than to me.

"I've tried therapy," I said. "It didn't help."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, it was all "and how does that make you feel"! They didn't do anything to actually help me. They patronized me, and on a couple occasions, flat out accused me of making things up due to being delirious. I'm not going back," I refused.

"Your experience was not a very good one. I know someone who has been extremely helpful in the past, if you would like her number."

"I said no," I snapped. "I don't want to discuss this."

"Okay, but if you do-"

"Dimitri. Stop." My voice was cold when I spoke, making him freeze. The waiter choose that time to bring our food over, all cheerful smiles and delicious smelling food. Neither of us spoke as the waiter placed the food on the table, outside of a murmured thank you.

"I'm sorry," Dimitri spoke, breaking the minutes long silence. "I didn't mean to cross any lines."

"I accept your apology," I mumbled before shoving a bite of salad into my mouth. Dinner passed relatively quietly after that. We occasionally made small talk about anything and everything except for the case and anything it involved. Dimitri paid the bill when it came, but I managed to convince him to allow me to leave the tip.

As we walked outside, Dimitri took my hand. "Go for a short walk with me?"

He gestured to a park across the street. It was well lit, with old-fashioned street lamps every fifteen feet, and twinkling light strands strung up in the trees between the lamps.

"Okay." He led me down the path, our hands still joined together. We passed a multitude of couples, each pair giggling and leaning into each other. "Why did you want to go on a walk?"

He took his time answering. "I've always wanted to see this park at nighttime. I've heard it's beautiful," he said finally.

I frowned, knowing that that was not what he had originally planned on asking. I had an idea of what he had planned, however, and didn't say anything besides my murmured agreement. The park really was beautiful. We completed the tiny loop all the way around before he led me back to his car. The ride back to my apartment was silent, music pulsing softly from the hi-tech stereo. Christian's car was parked behind Lissa's in the driveway, and Dimitri pulled his car in behind mine, parking neatly.

He walked me to the door, and as I opened the door, I turned back around to look at him. "Thank you for dinner."

"Thank you, Roza, for allowing me to take you to dinner," he murmured.

"It wasn't a date," I blurted, and his eyebrows shot up.

"I'm aware of that fact," he says, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Well, good night," I said lamely a few seconds later.

"Goodnight," he spoke softly, his smile winning out.

He was halfway back to his car when I called after him. "Dimitri?" When he turned to look at me, I took a deep breath before continuing. "I know it's probably a stupid request, but will you call me when you get home and talk me to sleep? I slept really well last night, and I think that might have had something to do with it."

Dimitri smiled. "Of course, Roza."

I thanked him softly and turned back to go inside. I locked the door, and moved through the living room, shutting the lights off. The smile was still huge on my face as I walked into my room, and I found myself anxiously waiting for Dimitri's call.


End file.
